Address the situation.

In the morning, you find yourself back on the throne. It's surprisingly comfortable, and it admittedly feels empowering. The others stand around you--loyal subjects. You lean back and rest your arms on the armrests, and stare up towards the hole in the ceiling. I miss the old times. I wish we'd have a beach trip again, or we could all go to the hot springs together. I want a life of isekai harem fun, not constantly getting kicked around by the world.

You slam your fist down. "This sucks! I thought things were finally getting better. I beat the boss, didn't I? And now we're all alone up here." You sigh and peer around for a moment. "Where's Yin?"

Poof! You **** on the black smoke as your devil maid appears in front of your throne. "Master, we have a guest."

Why is she smiling so wide? And what guest would we have out here? "Bring them in then. Why the formality? I know you're a maid, and you're always like that, but we're not in the manor anymore. This is barely a house with the condition it's in."

"She insisted I do it this way."

"Wait, what?"

Suddenly, she poofs away. You wave your hand and blow the smoke out of your face. After a few moments, you hear a door open, and Yin makes her way back inside with someone else following behind.

Nyllia walks forwards along the torn red carpet. She stops at the foot of your throne as she draws her long, curved blade. For a moment, you worry she's going to attack--to slay the mighty Demon King. But instead, she takes a knee and lays her weapon across it. She lowers her head, and casts her beautiful pink gaze up towards you.

"I, Nyllia Tesgella, hereby swear fealty to you, Kyle Warren, as my lord. I will serve and protect you with my life. I will be your sword. Please, accept this offering I present to you, Lord Warren. I have travelled far to meet with you."

"... What?" You're not sure how to respond. "Why now? And didn't you know I was banished?"

"Of course I did. That is why I am here. It seems that you may need all the support you can get."

Eva cups her hands around her mouth and whimpers. "Oh, Lady Tesgella..."

"It seems you are not alone, Lord Warren," says Amara.

"Hey now. No need to go around saying Lord. I just stole a castle. It isn't like I'm actually a Demon King."

"It seems His Majesty says otherwise." Nyllia smiles. "But I do not oppose serving a Demon King if it is you."

"Then of course! I'll definitely accept your help. I'd be stupid to say no."

She then stands back up, and slides the sword over her back. After that, she reaches into her bag and pulls out a rolled up piece of paper. She approaches your throne and holds it out for you to take. "Then accept this as well."

"What is it?" You take the scroll curiously.

"A work order to begin repairing Castle Phoenix. All it needs is your signature, Lord Warren. This place is filled with more than enough treasure to fund the operation, and I have allies that owe me favours. They will be here and working within the week if you sign that today."

"Phoenix?" you ask.

"Do you like it? I named it myself. Feel free to pick something else if you--"

"No, no. I love it."

"And do not worry. You have other allies as well. If any offered to come live up here, would you oppose it?"

You look her straight in the eyes. Your gaze turns, and you inspect each of the other girls around you. Then you glance down, and you feel tears welling up in your eyes. The emotions hit you all at once. You open your mouth to speak, and it's rather embarrassing. You can't do much to hide your feelings. "Nyllia," you whisper under your breath. You then wipe your eyes dry and look back up once more. "Thank you... so much, everyone. Of course anyone can come live here. This will be better than Dragonhide Manor. Up here in Castle Phoenix, we'll have our own craftsmen, merchants, and more! If Tivera wants to kicks us out, we'll just have something better. Then we can ask His Majesty what his problem with me is. Peony will have an entire forest-covered mountain range to move between. We can have our own cook, our own guards... We'll have our own laws. This is our land!"

"Oh hell yeah!" Niki throws her arms into the air.

"You're smiling again." Eva looks to you with a gentle gaze.

You watch as Jelly wiggles around the room in her slime form. Seeing her in a place like this is oddly fitting. By how she's acting, she must think the same thing. Castle Phoenix can just as much of a home as the manor was. Rather, it can be even better.

Hello! It's me, the author. I just wanted to leave a message here, since it's been over 600 pages deep (over 1,000 pages total) since I started this story, and you've entered what is effectively Part 2. Now that the Demon King is gone, it's a whole new saga. I also want to say thank you for sticking with me! I know that for quite awhile now, there's been far less eroticism, besides a few small moments here and there, just like the beginning of the story. That's only because the main plot got really intense there for awhile.

But don't worry. Now that the MC and crew are settling in a brand new home, things will chill out for awhile again. We can return to whacky hijinks, and things can be a little less stressful while Castle Phoenix grows. Time for more sexy escapades!

Oh, I also wanted to address how there haven't really been a lot of options for quite a long time. The story got very linear. It just worked better for me with what's been happening in the narrative, but I promise I'll start including more alternate options just like before. I'm finally at a plateau in the story I've been waiting to get to for awhile. Thanks again for reading, and stay safe out there!