Salem kicked against the carapace, sliding away from the beast, yet not quick enough as it bit into his side. The sudden pain and the jarring stop made him scream aloud.

"Fuck you!"

He wrapped his tails around the beasts long head and punched it in one of its eyes, the pain made the beast released him just enough for him to come away from the bite. He put his hands against the head of the beast regaining the connection, the beast slammed him into the bars and floor of the cage.

Bones cracked, the roars of elf and beast came from the cage, "Submit!" metal hit carapace while mandibles cut into his flesh. Salem kept one hand on the beast while the other slammed repeatedly against the plates of armor near the beasts face.

Beginning the bonding process.

Bonding complete.

Beginning bloodline restructuring. Estimated time till completion: forty-eight hours.

"Master Salem, this centipede was just a week shy of laying eggs, the count of eggs will number in the hundreds and will require a massive amount of food, primarily meat. Maturation of the eggs will only take an additional three weeks after being lain, it can be sped up or even slowed down with tweaking the bloodline but I would need to make the change now."

Thinking on it briefly Salem chose to speed up the process, he would be meeting with the ambassadors that evening which he could add more livestock in the contracts he would hand to them for review.

Falling over, Salem was still bleeding and had been poisoned by the bite of the centipede, he summoned his knights and pulled out two flasks. One was for healing his wounds and stopping the poison, which he drank in seconds, while the other was his wine flask which he sipped on until his knights arrived on horseback.

Jennah, Annah, the Twins arrived quickly but it was Railia who jumped off her horse, with the grace of a long-lived elf she landed close to the cage and ran inside, she paid no attention to centipede. Arriving in front of him she placed her hands over the wound on his side and began chanting, pulling herbs and bandaged from her ring she administered to him quickly yet smooth like water.

Salem let out a small moan when the pain disappeared, looking at the woman who had cleaned his wound and was healing him he felt warm knowing she cared this much for him. The other knights crowded around, watching as she worked while they tried to comfort him.

The other knights put together a stretcher and lifted him on it, and moved him out of the cage, his centipede followed him out and lay beside him while they waited for a carriage for him, checking his wounds, he had a broken leg and fractured ribs.

He also couldn't feel his right hand from when he punched the face plates of his new mount, healing all this wouldn't take too long with magic. He could heal himself with the herb baths as well which at this moment sounded like heaven, they reset his leg in the field, making him yell aloud.

Removing his gauntlet he saw his swollen hand, it may not be broken, but it was bruised and fractured along his knuckles. He closed his eye, and whispered to Jennah to prepare an underground warren for the mounts, he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

Waking up in his bed Salem didn't move, he could still feel the pain from his wounds and preferred not to aggravate them, lest he has to remain in bed longer. Through a window, he watched the sunrise, he had slept through the meeting with the ambassadors he thought. His mind still sluggish from the blood loss, he started to look around the room he saw the five girls all talking to each other while the rest of the room was empty.

He cleared his throat to gain their attention, though his first attempt was only a squeak, he blushed and tried again. Thankfully his skin was dark and it would be difficult to see, they all turned when they heard him, seeing him smiling at them they quickly came to his side.

"I am alright, now tell me where are the ambassadors, I also would like to be moved to my study after a hot bath."

Following his command, the girls smiled and stripped him bare causing him to blush at being handled in such a way. They were gentle with him, they washed his body and fed him, they re-wrapped his bandages and carried him to his study.

They sat him in his chair, he was dressed in clean white robes and was preparing the contracts for the ambassadors while his knights sat around him speaking to their apprentices.

Reminding him he needed to set things in place for the children to learn, and not just about war but what it took to become anything they wished.

Not all the children would be suitable for killing or leading troops, some would have sharp minds of business or scholarly minds to teach and guide others in the future, he would set up a grand academy for all children in his city.

They could be taught and trained in both mind and body and once they were mature enough, they would decide if they wished to join the school of War or the school of Wisdom.

He began drafting his plan, consulting with his knights and the system about what should be taught before and after their choosing day, the age for choosing would be sixteen marking them for adulthood among the human race.

A knight walked into the study, two middle-aged men followed her in, she introduced the men as the ambassadors as Forsa of Koftas, and Dalen of Idos. They bowed slightly and spoke at the same time, "Greeting Lord Belegast, we come in search of an audience in the name of peace and fair trade between our three cities."

Salem smiled at the warm greeting, these two seemed sincere and untainted by greed or lust for power, which he thought strange but maybe that is why they were sent. They were probably both members of the human race that believed and thought of the good of all and not of their own houses.

"Welcome, both of you please sit and enjoy some refreshments." he motioned them to sit opposite of his own chair and with their own smiles they took the seats while a servant poured them all tea.

Salem waited a moment before tasting this sweet beverage, he nodded his approval to the servant who curtsied and left to stand in the hall should they require anything else.

They took their time with the tea enjoying watching the knights teaching the children, Salem cleared his throat and pushed the contracts over to the ambassadors, "Now on to business, I am sure we all can agree that until the undead have been defeated or pushed back, there should be no war or other forms of sabotage between us for at least the next fifty years, that includes myself in the agreement."

"Agreed." both ambassadors accented to the first term.

"Excellent!" Salem smiled at them both, "there are details in the contract you will need to take to your city lords, like the enslavement laws will not pertain to anyone under my charge, any and all elves have a right to seek asylum in my city and will not be barred entry. Such things will not be tolerated any longer on this mountain or I will start enslaving the humans to work in the mines for the very short lives that you do have."

Salem had gone from a smile to a stern frown in the blink of an eye, both of the ambassadors nodded and agreed to take this to their lords once the contracts had been refined to the best conditions for all parties.

They moved on to other not so awkward topics, food, and medicine likewise with weapons and armor. Enchantments like before would be requested and required a high price only the old noble houses could afford, everything went well for all sides until it came time for the main event.

The obelisks.

The trees that held the minor undead at bay, and protecting the cities gates from being overrun by the hordes once the undead commanders had their fill of trial and error.

Reading over the terms of the contract, Dalen and Forsa froze when they saw the price for the trees that could save thousands of lives. The materials could be gathered, the gold compensation for the creation was not a big deal, Dalen had heard the condition for the orphans from Forsa yesterday when the first meeting was canceled.

The last condition was the harshest, all elves were to be set free if any of the elves had been harmed, killed, or moved out of the cities during the talks of this contract they would only be able to use the obelisks purchased for one week a month before he turned off their effects.

This would be a large issue, but there was another half to the condition, for every elf that died in slavery in the last two hundred years, would require a ten thousand gold fine, and if a noble house did not turn over the records of the slaves they owned in that time frame or records went missing.

They would be massacred and a fine of three hundred thousand gold would be required to reactivate the obelisks after the eradication of that family.

Looking at the two men who had gone from smiles to fear he decided to help them, not all humans were evil after all.

"Now I'm aware of what will happen if the obelisks are shut down for a long time, your defenses will crumble and your cities will fall, what is a little gold for the lives of all of your citizens. I am aware your city lords will not want to pay, and may even try to use force against me, but that would be a problem for all of us."

You wouldn't be able to penetrate the outer forts for the next five years, another ten years for the Mountain gate. If you managed to get past that you would need to siege elves in their own forests after you make it past there, would be the city. Now, this is still assuming you are all alive because I doubt the undead are going to wait fifteen years for you to finally reach my city before they have had their fun with you.

I would urge you to tell your city lords of this, I can wait you out, but you don't have the luxury of time on your side."