Eventually, the process to evolve Rick into a Goblin King finally came to an end as the Laws of the World completed their work and retracted from his body.

  His screams of pain finally ceased, and he found himself lying on his back weakly.

  So weak, in fact, that the coldness of the stone floor hadn’t affected him one bit. He was simply too weak to even register that his back was feeling cold.

  ‘Is… is it over…’

  [I think it is. Look at this.]

  {Evolution to Goblin King is now complete.}

  {May your reign be Everlasting}

  ‘Finally… finally… ah I’m tired…’

  [Rest Rick… Help is on the way. You did well.]

  ‘Yeah… I… did… huh…’

  As Rick fell into an unconscious state, the Chiefs rushed into the building with controlled haste after being given the okay to do so from Elder Raj.

  “Be gentle with him! He’s probably extremely weakened right now!”

  Elder Raj yelled out from behind the group, but they didn’t need him to tell them that. In fact, they had likely never picked something—or someone—up that softly before in their entire lives.

  Quickly, but also very carefully, they carried Rick’s large body all the way from the stone building and into a room that was prepared specifically for him in Chief Galgo’s home.

  Once Rick was placed in the bed, more medically inclined Goblins rushed in to look at him, and after more than a few checks, the Goblins finally felt confident enough to declare that Rick was okay, and he only needed rest.

  The second his well-being was verified, a host of Goblins were placed into guard duty outside of his chambers, and another Chiefs Council was immediately convened.

  Per usual, Chief Galgo took the reins of the conversation.

  “We have a King now. A real, genuine King. I would like to take this time to celebrate, but we can wait for him to wake up to do that. For now, I believe we should plan a few things ourselves so that we can present something good to the King.

  “What do you all think?”

  Various nods of approval were directed towards Galgo, and he took that as his cue to continue.

  “Good, then the first order of business should be His Majesty’s Royal Guard. As Chiefs, we can’t follow him around forever as we also need to be his eyes and ears in the Clans. The Royal Guard, on the other hand, needs to be an elite force dedicated to no one but the King.

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  “They can have no other duties and will spend all of their waking moments guarding the King. This will be an honorable position, but a demanding one, nonetheless.

  “So, the questions we need to answer are: who will we nominate for this force, and how many will we nominate?”

  Chiefess Yalg spoke up first.

  “I believe the Royal Retrieval team is the perfect template for us to draw from. One Goblin of the Fifth Tier and then a squad of Tier Fours to follow suit.”

  “That’s not a bad idea, but I hope we can increase the number of members. Ten total guards is not a fitting amount for the King of Goblins.”

  “I understand that, Rogur, but we also don’t have that many Tier Four and Five Goblins to assign to be stationed away from the front. There has to be some sort of balance.”

  After that last comment, a fierce yet controlled discussion ensued as the 14 Chiefs went back and forth with each other for a few minutes until a proper plan was agreed upon.

  “So, are we all in agreement then? There will be ten Tier Four Goblins and one Tier Five. In addition to them, fifty Tier Threes will be assigned to this squad as well, and the expectation is that they will learn and grow stronger in this squad.”

  Once more, various nods of approval went around the room in response to Chief Galgo’s words.

  “Great, we will propose this plan to the King once he awakes. Please remember that he could reject this plan and suggest something else entirely. The sooner we get used to the fact that our decisions are no longer final, the better things will be.

  “Which brings me to my next point. We need to finalize how leadership will work from now on. As I just stated, our decisions are no longer final. The King’s will is our will. But even with knowing that, we still need a proper structure in place.

  “How do we want to handle that?”

  “I believe we should continue as is, with only a few tweaks. Regular reports will be sent to the King, and all big decisions will be routed to him as well. Meetings like this one, where we all gather, should happen more frequently as well.

  “Of course, the King’s wishes will overrule all of this at any given point, but that’s just a general idea of what we should do on a day-to-day.”

  The words of Chief Kog settled in the room, and his fellow Chiefs all took a moment to go over what he said. After a few moments, all of them pretty much agreed with that plan.

  There was only one additional comment.

  “This building is technically Chief Galgo’s house. Where is the King going to live? I don’t like the idea of our King having to share your house, Chief Galgo—no offense.”

  “None taken, Hugala, and I agree with you. There needs to be a proper abode for our King. Though we all know he plans to spend a lot of time at the front, so something at the midway point between here and the front lines should be the idea. Thoughts?”

  “Leave this to me. The Pogra Clan will handle this, and we will build a dwelling fit enough for our King!”

  “You’re not going to leave us out of that building process, right, Menga?”

  “…Of course not, Hugala. The members of the Hessel Clan are the best weavers in all of Mir. It wouldn’t be wise to leave you out of this process.”

  “I figured. I just wanted to make sure. Looking forward to working with you.”

  After that awkward exchange, the meeting continued for a while longer, as all the Chiefs wanted to provide some level of input when it came to the building of the King’s abode.

  And while this was happening… the King in question had finally woken up.

  ???

  ‘Hm? Where am I?’

  [A bedroom for you to rest in.]

  ‘…How long have I been out?’

  [Just a few hours. Don’t be in a hurry to get up, though. Your body went through a lot.]

  ‘It sure did, huh… but I did it, right? All that pain was worth it?’

  [Look for yourself.]

  ‘Ah, you’re right. Please show me my status.’

  {Status}

  …

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