The banquet marked a turning point for the Darklight Host as a continent-wide organization. Even though the System limited the actual number of Guild Members, the good words spoken about them by the various Nations' Leaders made them popular with the commoners everywhere.
They already had a strong presence in many of these places, but the Serrah Woods, where they previously didn't have any influence, had invited Kone and some of the Druids there to set up a small camp and offer their services to those helping the forests and dealing with the newly spawned monsters that didn't believe in peaceful coexistence.
Seemingly overnight, having a Darklight Host outpost in your town became a sign of political influence and trustworthiness. The outposts could call on forces strong enough to level a small nation in minutes, and they sold everything you could imagine but refused to undercut local merchants.
That fair trade policy only made them more popular and avoided disastrous trade wars between regions. They also bought many products at wholesale prices, which helped small producers who had been muscled out of their local market.
Their competition wasn't happy, but what could they do? The Darklight Host wasn't selling goods any cheaper than they were, and no merchant group had the might to run them out of town.
Plus, the Demon in charge of negotiations was merciless. A fact that one city-state which chose to attack their emissaries and killed a guild member learned the hard way.
The entire city of Knox now technically belonged to the Darklight Host, since they killed every serving noble in the city-state, and the survivors of their families signed over the deeds to their land in exchange for their lives. But the Outreach Workers, as they called themselves, simply allowed the successors to continue business as usual on behalf of the Guild. The only real change was that a Guild official would approve their budget and collect taxes on their behalf, effective immediately.
The commoners viewed it as a win for them since the Darklight Host had very benevolent rules on worker treatment and taxation. The heirs of the nobles were just glad to be alive after their parents insulted such a powerful force.
Cain lay in bed, entangled with Cyrene and Nemu while Svetlana related all the latest information to him. It wasn't that he couldn't get out of bed, but that he couldn't do it without hurting someone, and Cyrene simply wasn't waking up.
Sure, they had only been in bed a few hours, but that was enough for Cain and Nemu didn't need sleep at all. The Lamia on the other hand needed a full night, and she was a restless sleeper, which led to their current entanglement.
Slowly Nemu made her way out of the pile with the assistance of Svetlana and headed for breakfast while waving back at Cain in amusement.
"I'll bring something to eat up for you. The snake has been lonely with both you and Misha away, we should let her sleep a little longer. " The Felian companion whispered as she left.
Feeling the empty space, Cyrene snuggled tighter around Cain and sighed in happiness.
Looking down at her happily sleeping form, Cain decided that he had been neglecting his faithful followers a little too much. He hadn't even been back to visit most of the Guild Houses on the Central Continent in ages, he just left it all to his subordinates. If nobody ever actually saw the Guild Master, how long would it be before they decided that he needed to be replaced?
Cain had seen Guild Wars of succession before, and they weren't pretty. If at all possible, he hoped to save the Darklight Host from that fate, even though they now outnumbered any other guild he had seen by quite a large margin.
The Lieutenants and Svetlana had said that Cyrene was doing a great job of keeping everyone focused and loyal to the guild and that the Guild Skill that relied on him being Guild Master was powerful enough that very few would even think of betraying him, but still, it wasn't good to let people feel neglected.
The smell of food was enough to drag Cyrene out of her deep sleep, despite still being exhausted from yesterday's excitement, but not enough to convince her to let go of Cain and get out of bed. Instead, the Puppet from the kitchen left breakfast on the bed for them while Cain tidied up Cyrene's appearance and got her ready for the day.
"I wonder if this is what it's like to have kids? Wake them up, do their hair, get them dressed, wipe pancake syrup from their faces." Cain mused out loud.
"I'm not that helpless," Cyrene complained, then abruptly stopped when Cain wiped the pancake syrup from her face.
"Oh, that part was a hint. But still, I can take care of myself."
Cain just smiled and tied her hair up into an intricate braid after slipping a dress that the puppets had left on the nightstand over her head.
"Of course, you're not helpless. You're a Mythic Awakened demon. But you still like it when someone cuddles and pampers you."
"Cuddles are not age dependent. But could you use the white ribbons in my hair? I think they would look good with this dress." Cyrene pouted, while Cain adjusted his work.
"Why don't we take a little tour around the other Guild Houses and then I can show you around the farm on the Southern Continent? There are a few more potential Guild Members that have trials for City Guardian positions this week and I should be there to congratulate them." Cain suggested.
"I can come with you? Like everywhere, and all the time? That would be amazing." Cyrene cheered, wrapping Cain up in a full-body hug after untangling herself from her haphazard sleeping position.
"I think your body is growing up as well. Your scales are getting even smoother, and I can sense power collecting in the red designs." Cain ran his hands over them to show what he meant. Before her scales were a bit rough, making it easier to grab onto things, now only the belly was, and the top side was getting slippery and smooth.
"That's new. I don't think that was happening yesterday. Do you think it could have to do with the awakening? I heard that a lot of demons progress in quality as they advance their skills or levels. Could I be changing into a ranked demon now that I have an awakened skill and better stats?"
"That's possible. I could modify you a little and make sure, but I've already done it once and I wouldn't want to accidentally undo anything that I did the first time." Cain told her, wondering what exactly the advancement requirements were for Demons.
"There's lots of time to figure it out though. Now, let's finish our food so we can go visit everyone."
