Hello, Fred. How are all the pilgrims?

　　"Hello, Jim. There are a lot of them. But it was a quiet night. Except that a lot of demons in disguise came with them."

　　Really? How many?

　　"Eleven. I dropped them all into holes."

　　Good. They were scouting for the rest, I`m sure. And dropping them into holes spares the humans who might have to fight them suddenly.

　　"Yeah, but the demon blood seems to interfere with my magic. Kumbanaka worried that demon blood could hurt me. But what I see is the dead demons poison the ground, and my magic doesn`t work on it any more. I kinda hoped I could bury the whole demon army, but what if demon blood stops my magic and I can`t do that?"

　　It`s a real concern, Fred. I told you before that we don`t have any good historical records of demon armies fighting Earth Spirits, so I don`t have any good answers for you. Except that you can still grow, and get stronger. You seem to have a very good set of creatures, now, with some really challenging ones and a range of, well, I wouldn`t say easier, but I would say& more& straightforward creatures that the humans can battle.

　　So I`d suggest that you stretch out your domain. I`m glad you want to see farther; you should. And look deeper into the earth below you. You never know what you might find.

　　"Okay. But if you hear any tricks to fight demons, please tell me, okay?"

　　I promise. See you tonight.

　　"Okay, bye."

　　It was morning, and the town was& weird. Normally the hunters were early risers, getting on with the day`s battling as soon as possible. So the front steps were also busy early, with lots of merchants selling breakfast on a stick, or blade sharpening, or protective spells. This was all still going on, but at the same time, the mass of pilgrims was waking up slowly and painfully.

　　These people were sick and crippled to begin with, and they`d been trying and failing to get some sleep on the cold, damp ground. They brought a pall of misery into the town, and everyone was affected by it. As if that wasn`t bad enough, Fred could see another medium-sized group of pilgrims coming up the road. He didn`t think these people would get what they came for right away.

　　Fred saw a king pull together a large group of knights and wizards. He led them down the ramp, and into Kumbanaka`s lair. A fierce battle ensued, and much blood was spilled, but Kumbanaka was overcome, and the king emerged from the front entrance holding one of Kumbanaka`s tokens, waving it around, and letting the gold flash in the morning sunlight. There was much oohing and ahhing from the pilgrims gathered round. The king took the opportunity to blather on for a few minutes, then retired with his knights to his tower rooms.

　　About thirty minutes later, the Priestess Sharfroen walked out of the front entrance, and the crowd went wild. She looked fine, but Fred could see that her team was being extra protective of her. Said acolytes worked with the officious silly-hat-wearers to push the pilgrims into some sort of order, and the priestess started up with the singing again.

　　Fred saw that Kumbanaka was alive again, so he reached out.

　　"Doin okay, Kumbanaka?" Fred asked.

　　"Yes, Fred," Kumbanaka replied. "It`s always an amazing ride through the waterfall of death and rebirth. I see so much."

　　"You see nothing, Kitty," Martin piped up, "Except your own fevered imaginings. There`s nothing there. Don`t forget I`ve died too."

　　"Oh, you won`t let us forget that, Dragon," Kumbanaka replied. "I`d like to think that my inherent connection to the magic of this world gives me the vision to see what you can`t. Or perhaps you`re more connected to& somewhere else?"

　　"What is that supposed to mean, Cat?" Martin arched.

　　"My ancestors have been born into Aeru for 50,000 years. Here we have lived and died. What about your family, Dragon? Where did they come from? Are they still around?"A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

　　"Yes! They are! Dragons are pan-dimensional. We come from every world. Every world with magic, that is. But I love this world as much as you, and so does my family. Why? Do you expect them to visit, and smoke a pipe with you?"

　　"I would expect that they aren`t even on Aeru right now," Kumbanaka riposted. "Dragons didn`t stay and fight for Aeru last time, did they? Why would they, when they can enjoy a vacation somewhere else?"

　　"Dragons died to the demons last time; they didn`t all leave."

　　"And this time they`ve learned their lesson. So why are you still here?" Kumbanaka continued to press Martin. Fred held his breath, unsure if he should step in, but wondering what Kumbanaka was getting at.

　　"I`m trapped by an Earth Spirit`s magic, just as you are, Tabby."

　　"And your family? Did they go& home? Leaving you behind?"

　　"Shut the fuck up, cat! I`ll kill you!" But instead of leaping out of his lair, Fred saw Martin bury himself deeper into his gold.

　　"As you wish," Kumbanaka replied, and that was that.

　　Throughout the day, Fred saw that the priestess would sing for two hours, and rest for one. It was clear that no one wanted her to overtax herself again, even the pilgrims. So while a lot of visible healing got done, there were too many to heal in just one day. Small groups of pilgrims kept coming up the road during the day, too. By afternoon the organizers in the hats were making new pilgrims set up camp outside the Town Wall.

　　This made Fred wonder about the latrines he`d built, so he checked them. He was happy to see Brown Slimes in each of the latrines, keeping the cisterns empty and (presumably) sweet-smelling. "Wow, so convenient. I`d do the poop-scooping if I had to, but I don`t!" Fred cheered to himself.

　　At noon, there was extra activity near the north gate of the Town Wall. Fred could see that there was a crowd of about three hundred humans, led by a youngish human in fancy garb. Horses and wagons were loaded up, and after an hour of getting ready, the large group exited the north gate, and traveled upslope. By the time they got to the treeline, Fred was pretty certain the leader was one of the princes, and he and his group were moving to claim the Forest Temple.

　　They did exactly that. Over the rest of the day, and into the night, the large party took possession of the area, and occupied the buildings. Some guards were set up to stand vigil next to the teleport pad. Torches and bonfires were assembled to keep the guards company through the night. Fred hoped that they could use the place, and it wouldn`t get attacked by demons.

　　An hour before dusk, Fred also noticed that almost all of the Gryphon riders took wing and flew away, all in different directions. It was a very noticeable event. Many of the humans pointed and goggled at the sight; Fred was sure they`d all be talking about it throughout the night.

　　As night fell, Jim checked in. Fred remarked what a quiet day it had been, but told Jim about Kumbanaka`s morning death, the Martin-and-Kumbanaka fight, and the prince at the Forest Temple. He also talked about how the humans were finding some order, despite the huge amount of pilgrims, and he mentioned the exodus of the gryphon riders.

　　Jim had little to report, too, though he did say that many Earth Spirits had now built themselves walls, and one demon bomb had been stopped by someone`s walls that day.

　　At dusk, the town got back to partying. The fighters had all had good days battling Fred`s creatures, and many of the pilgrims were now healed or on their way to being so. As a result, when the band struck up a dance number, a lot of people felt like dancing, and singing, and boozing. And though lots of pilgrims still needed lots of help, the pall of misery seemed to lift, and the humans could be joyous for a while.

　　This cheered up Fred, too, who hadn`t realized how anxious he`d been. He assumed the Martin/Kumbanaka fight, and the influx of pitiable pilgrims, had combined to make him so. But observing the big party, he felt a bit better.

　　Deep drums started up. Fred heard from Micheal, who`s giant duck was pretty out of control, and who`d turned his chest of magic scrolls into Treasure Sprites, and now his humans were going crazy for them.

　　Fred heard from Virginia, who talked about finally finding water deep underground. She also spoke about her metal dragon, who was kind and sweet and wise and the best friend ever. Fred knew Martin couldn`t help but listen, and half expected him to make some sort of mean-spirited comment. But he didn`t.

　　So Fred replied to them, congratulating them both. He didn`t want to mention the fight, or the Forest Temple, or the gryphon activity. So he talked about the pilgrims, and the priestess, and the big party they were having. He realized that he kinda made it sound like his town was party central, and he didn`t mean that. But it was kinda true, though.

　　When the conversation was over, Fred did a high-level check of his domain. All of his creatures were safe and alive. In the Cave Zone, all was well, but Fred thought the Golden Wurm was restless. No eggs yet, though.

　　In the Lined Hallway, Fred thought that the lioness looked bigger and more dangerous than ever, sleeping in her huge tree. He also felt that Mr. Box looked happy, too. It would occasionally rearrange its boxes, just for fun. Occasionally it would pop out its enormous tongue, to taste or nudge a box near it.

　　The drakes, the mummy, the birds in the healing temple all seemed peaceful. Fred caught the naga humming to itself, and performing a complicated dance, alone in the middle of its sand. Fred felt that he was intruding on something private, and looked away.

　　The healing temple was still packed with humans who needed healing. "No better place for it," thought Fred. It had still been a busy day for Priestess Sharfroen. She was fast asleep in one of the small side rooms, and two town guards were standing outside her door.

　　Out in the town, the party was still swinging. Fred wondered if the pilgrims would eventually demand quiet, so they could sleep. They hadn`t yet.

　　Up in the Forest Temple, it was already quiet, and only a few guards were awake. The three Eastern Forts were similar, with just a few humans keeping watch.

　　Fred then turned his attention to the abandoned village, where he`d saved the villagers from the blue-vest bandits. It was still empty and forlorn. Fred noticed that, to reach it, he`d made a narrow extension of himself, and that wasn`t best. So he set about spreading his influence a great deal wider, both upslope into the trees, and downslope, south of his town. As always, he did this by digging small tunnels just under the surface, and branching them out like tree limbs, as they spread apart. This new extension included the strange "mine" that the villagers had worked, for no apparent reason. Fred still couldn`t see or feel anything worth mining around there. He shrugged to himself, and kept digging.

　　He spread his influence across a huge new area throughout the night. Tens of thousands of square spans of new ground came under his control, and thus his sight. A couple hours before morning, he`d expanded his domain (south of the town) so much that he`d almost doubled the total area he could see, though this new space he`d controlled was filled with a lot of nothing. He also hadn`t dug down very far, and was now very aware of what he might be missing because he didn`t look too deep.