I really didn’t expect it. They gave me transcendence when I reached some kind of deep meditative state, and now, after opening up, telling Ronan and Vincent the whole truth, putting my trust in them, and feeling grateful that not only do they not judge or incriminate me but actually support me… it was a very intense emotion, like a kind of epiphany where I realized how fortunate I am and that I should have done this much earlier. And that’s why the skill leveled up?

  I thought it would increase in level when its effect—not spending mana on a spell—was applied many times.

  Until I stop crying, and even a few minutes after, the prince doesn’t loosen his hug. I’m so comfortable… When he does and pulls away, with his hands on my shoulders gently pushing us apart, I stare at him.

  I must look horrible, with a tearful face. At least here I don’t use makeup—this would have been much worse on Earth (that whole ‘waterproof mascara’ thing is a lie).

  He smiles at me. I can see he’s still worried about everything I’ve told him, but he’s with me one hundred percent.

  Then someone moves in my peripheral vision. Oh, it’s Ronan. I’d forgotten about the poor guy. I turn my head toward him.

  “Sorry, Ronan,” I tell him.

  Me here hugging Vincent for a long time, and I imagine Ronan wouldn’t know where to put himself. But no, I don’t think so. He’s so calm, he doesn’t seem uncomfortable.

  “Why?” he asks me.

  “Uh… for ignoring you all this time.”

  “Not at all, my lady. I’m glad you have your betrothed’s support.”

  “I have to thank you, my friend,” Vincent chimes in. “You’ve pushed Bianca to find the courage needed to tell me.”

  The one addressed just shrugs, nothing more.

  Here, acting all innocent, my vassal sergeant has managed to put me in a situation where I could have continued lying, but it was much simpler to trust and tell the truth. I should be angry with him, but I can’t…

  The pup causes trouble for me in dungeons and then makes an innocent face and gives me licks. That moves me and saves him. Ronan is simply Ronan. I can’t get angry. He does everything from his peculiar way of seeing the world, without malice, and I have to admit it usually works out well for him.

  I sigh.

  “Well, so what do we do now?” I ask.

  “Keep building,” Ronan answers. “With all those influence points now we can do more things. Can you access the pedestal and let us see it?”

  Vincent releases my shoulders and also turns toward him, very interested.

  “Sure, let’s go to the town hall,” I tell them.

  Once there, when I open the control interface with each of them on one side looking at it, I realize the brutal change: the orc village buildings are now ours.

  Settlement Convergence. Level 1

  Influence points: 655

  Population:

  Living: 298 orcs, 68 goblins, 8 bears.

  Undead: 62 skeletons, 43 zombies

  Current buildings: 48

  Available buildings: 13

  Current blessings: 0

  Available blessings: 3

  Leadership

  “This has changed. Besides adding the orc population, we’ve gone from having 5 buildings to 48.”

  “Can you break down the orc population to see how many warriors there are?” Ronan asks me.

  “Sure.”

  1 iron fist, 2 bronze fists, 200 warriors, 70 children, 17 elders, 2 tanners, 2 blacksmiths, 1 cook, 2 carpenters, 1 tailor.

  Before they ask, I touch the interface to get more information about the fists.

  Fists are military leaders, with iron having a higher rank than bronze.

  It doesn’t say anything else. Well, the iron fist was their chief, and I imagine the bronze ones would be his officers.

  “Let’s see the buildings,” I tell them and manipulate the interface to show us.

  Convergence. Current buildings:

  Goblins: 1 cold chamber, 1 smokehouse, 1 forge-smithy, 1 town hall, and 1 tannery.

  Orcs: 1 great hall, 35 family houses, 1 barracks, 1 forge-smithy, 1 tannery, 1 workshop, 1 sewing workshop, 1 kennel, and 1 ceremonial fire.

  Vincent is very interested.

  “Can you see the characteristics of each building?” he asks me. His eyes are shining.

  “Yes, I imagine it’ll be like in your parents’ kingdom.”

  “They haven’t let me see that much; they reserve it for my brother.”

  “I understand.”

  The truth is, no, I don’t understand. Vincent is a good son, and it’s clear he’s genuinely enthusiastic about it. It doesn’t matter if he’s not going to be the heir—if they let him be an administrator, he could help his brother better than as a diplomat. And he wouldn’t betray him.

  Anyway, I imagine that’s how things have been done for centuries in this world. A shame.

  “By the way,” I add, “I told Ronan I’d make him administrator as soon as the settlement level allowed it. When I can do more, if you still like this, I can appoint you too.”

  “Really?” he smiles as his gaze lights up even more.

  “Of course. After all, you’re my betrothed.”

  It feels good to be able to contribute in this way to a prince, to show that marriage isn’t only beneficial for me, the simple daughter of a count, as it might seem.

  Though deep down I know it doesn’t matter, since the real contribution from both of us is in our feelings.

  I show them all the buildings, one by one. Of the orcs', the forge-smithy, tannery, workshop, and sewing workshop are similar to the goblin buildings in terms of construction requirements, upgrades, and what they're for.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The others—the great hall, family houses, barracks, kennel, and ceremonial bonfire—are new to me:

  “Bianca,” Vincent tells me, “is the orc settlement level 2?”

  “Let me see. It would make total sense since both the barracks and kennels are buildings of that level.”

  However, I don’t have access to the orc settlement as such, since it’s been integrated into Convergence.

  “Here you can see only Convergence is listed,” I tell them after an unsuccessful search. “And Convergence is level 1. Let me see... No, I don’t have access to unlock any second-level buildings. I imagine that after conquest, the annexed settlement drops to the conqueror’s level. However, in the buildings available to unlock I don’t see any new ones, and orc houses, for example, are new. Oh, look—I can build them if I want without having to pay to learn the building.”

  “That’s very good, my lady. If we want to learn something new without paying the price, we just have to conquer a settlement that already has it. Can you make more kennels?”

  “Let me see... hmm... no.”

  Kennel. Building unlocked. Does not meet construction requirements: settlement level 2.

  “But it’s unlocked,” Vincent comments. “Ronan is right: this is an incentive for war. I’m glad the gods forbade them. Neither my parents nor my brother have told me anything about this, but I imagine envy or the desire to steal the great achievements of a neighboring kingdom could have caused some of the wars between humans in earlier centuries.”

  “But Vincent,” Ronan tells him, “this settlement started from a goblin village, so we don’t know if this is only common among creature populations or also extends to humans.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Well, I already wanted to deal with the orcs who really attacked Clearhaven—now even more so,” Ronan comments with his usual expressionless face, but I know he didn’t like at all that they attacked the village and the children who’ve played with him and his undead friends.

  “Let’s finish this and go ask the iron fist if he knows anything,” I say. “I want to make the quarry as soon as possible. Although we have a lot, spending 200 influence points here would be wasteful. 1 gold coin, 10 logs, and 150 stone blocks?”

  Because I prefer to make 150 larger blocks than 800 bricks. I’m clear I’ll have to do it, but as soon as we have the quarry, I’ll leave it to the goblins. Or zombie trolls.

  “Do you have the materials?” Vincent asks me.

  “No, the blocks are missing.”

  “How do goblins make them without a quarry? With a pickaxe and a lot of patience?”

  “No. I make them.”

  Vincent looks at me like it’s a brilliant idea that would never have occurred to him. I understand—a count’s daughter breaking rocks... Mana is so precious in this world, potions so expensive, that the idea of a noble using their time and their magic for this isn’t very common. I mean, I burn mana to make them. The trick is both in the pup’s lick and meditation.

  “Well, if my lady had high affinity instead of medium for earth, she could still make them even faster.”

  Yeah, right... enslave me more.

  “Did she come up with it, perhaps from her classes at the academy where earth mages study effort and structures?” Vincent asks the necromancer.

  "No, I think my lady lacks discipline when practicing spells she doesn't like. This gives it to her."

  Vincent sees the annoyed face I make and laughs.

  “Don’t be angry,” he tells me while giving me a small kiss on the cheek.

  Damn prince… in this he’s like the pup. They give me affection and I’m incapable of staying angry.

  “Well, it’s going to take me a while to make them, so let’s first go talk to the orc leader.”

  “All right.”

  We return to the main cave, where he awaits us. We take a seat on some furs beside him.

  “My lady,” he tells me very respectfully, imitating Ronan, “orcs, unless there’s a king who unifies them, organize themselves into independent clans or tribes. I don’t know who attacked your human village, but I do know the location of the only other nearby orc tribe.”

  “Tell me everything you know. And don’t call me my lady—call me leader, like the goblins do.”

  That “my lady” thing I don’t like. With Ronan treating me like that, that’s more than enough.