Afterparty!

Now at the foot of the stage, you stand in the presence of two goddesses--something that would certainly overwhelm any ordinary human. While Queen Catherine II takes care of something back towards the far end of the stage, surrounded by her knights, you stand before one final situation to resolve--a bunnyfolk in cuffs, two guards, a girl named Nutmeg, and the current mayor of Avana, Mittens. Otherwise, the microphone has been taken away, and the crowd is starting to scatter into a grand celebration.

"What do we do, m'lady?" asks one of the guards.

But Mayor Mittens is completely flustered. The creator of her entire people stands before her--so gorgeous, so powerful. She can't even speak, and that tends to be her specialty. After a moment, she collapses to her knees, much to the panic of the others. But she holds up her hand and shakes her head. "I'm f-fine," she mumbles.

"Rise, my child," says Feli. She offers a hand.

The mayor's eyes widen. She takes careful hold of her goddess' touch, pulls her her feet, but freezes in place with wobbling knees. She grips briefly between her own legs and shudders, as she feels a tingling wave of something rather embarrassing. In an attempt to distract from the pink in her cheeks, she begins to talk at last. "Sorry. For the first time in my life, I don't know what to say."

Nutmeg, however, steps forwards. She takes a knee. "Lepo, I never considered myself a religious girl, though I can't ignore that the one who spawned by entire species is standing in front of me. Can I... P-Please, can I confess to you my guilty feelings?"

"Oh wow," whispers Lepo before responding. "I mean yes, of course you can."

"During the invasion of the Demon King's army, I banded together with a few others, and we realized that we couldn't do much to fight the enemy forces, but we could help people in need. We saved people as best we could. But then we thought, if the enemy managed to steal from the magic item shops in the market, it could be terrible. So we secured them ourselves. We did it to keep them safe. But Lepo, we did keep a couple of them for ourselves. And now I've made our entire people look bad!"

"Come here, silly girl," Lepo says, and at the same time, she reaches down to grab the girl from the ground. She squeezes her face tight between her breasts, to where you aren't certain if the red her face is from the soft touch of a goddess' chest, or lack of oxygen. "One individual can't sour the name of an entire people. And you did what you did to help innocent people. Everybody makes mistakes. You had a moment of weakness, one could say. But if you feel so guilty, why not return what was stolen?"

Finally, Nutmeg is given room to gasp. Her eyes open wide as she points her eyes up--face still pulled down to the woman's bust. "W-W-Well, I did that already."

Lepo releases her from the grappling embrace. "Then no harm done."

"Or at least, everything is back to normal," Feli says. "At this stage, there's no point in dwelling in the past."

"... And I'm not so innocent either," admits Mayor Mittens. "I let me hatred completely consume me. Not only did I take the intelligence I gathered and ran with it in an attempt to slander your name, but it's true. I did set that man up to be punched in order to cause a scene."

Nutmeg frowns. "You were an admirable leader during the invasion. But you can't lead people with hate."

"You're right. Everyone, please excuse me. I have much to think about. And I will never forget you, My Goddess."

Feli smiles, steps closer, and then lays a hand gently upon the mayor's head. "Everybody deserves a second chance, my child. Think hard, and remember why it is you chose the path you're on."

Her eyes flutter. "Y-Yes. I will," she mutters out before turning tail. She hustles away back into the crowd.

The guards look at each other. "So what do we do?" one asks.

"No idea," the other says with a shrug. "I think we just let them go."

Then from the audience, both Nyllia and Xiaoqing make their way through. The people around them move aside, and the two girls approach you with warm smiles upon their faces. As the guards free the two bunnyfolk, they move aside, leaving you with your allies, still at the foot of the stage. People definitely watch as much as they can, but many of the people are becoming increasingly distracted by drinks, singing, and food.

"Wow. That was amazing," says Xiaoqing. There's a hefty stein in her hand. "Even I was surprised by what happened."

Nyllia grips your hand. "I appreciated your honesty," she says softly. "They deserved to know the truth of it all, and I do not believe it will cause any real chaos. The people here have much to think about, but given all that has happened lately, I think they have already accepted this is a time of change."

Xiaoqing then hands the stein to you. It's made of dark wood and hardy steel, with a lid that opens shaped like a dragon's maw. Inside if a frothy honey mead. "They're just handing out refreshments for free right now. Here, take it."

"Don't mind if I do," you say before taking a mighty swig. "Wow. That's good."

"Well look at you, Demon King!" shouts a voice from nearby. The words are slurred, and if it wasn't for the fact that Demon and King are words capable of catching anyone's attention, you may not have even understood what he said.

Everybody turns. There's a man there, stumbling with a mug of beer in his hand.

"You best be ready to garner a lot more attention now," whispers Xiaoqing.

The man points straight at you, with surprising accuracy despite being ****. "Demon King... up in his dark castle, fucking deities and doing all sorts of weird shit."

You approach him. Then with your drink, you take yet another gulp, before swinging it up against his own. "Damn straight I am!" you shout.

The man's eyes light up. He smiles wide, and holds his beer up above his head. "Ha ha, yeah! I love this guy!"

Around you, the crowd cheers and laughs. They share songs, stories, drinks, and snacks, as the park erupt into grand celebration. Upon the stage, the knights and queen have been replaced by live music. There are game tents still set up, though the one you visited is entirely cleaned out. People are grilling, boiling, and frying. You keep mostly to your own group, especially to keep there from being any trouble between Feli and Lepo and the increasingly rowdy group of festival goers. But at the same time, you dance amongst them, and take some time to enjoy yourself.

Through it all, Dayna and Finaros approach your group, along with their son Einarr.

"I don't wish to speak here long," Dayna says. "Crowds like these are overwhelming, and I also don't want something to happen to our dear Einarr, but I just want to say that what you did and what you said upon that stage was beyond my expectations. You're not just another king, are you, Kyle?"

"... To think you had such connections," Finaros mutters. "You're a dangerous man."

"Honey, that's rude!"

"I'm only speaking the truth."

Prince Einarr tugs on your pants. "Mr. Kyle. What do you mean that you're from another world?"

You chuckle. "I guess that is a weird thing to hear, isn't it? Earth is a very different place than here. Instead of riding animals to get around, or using portals, we typically drive big metal objects on wheels, and we harness lightning for light instead of using magic."

"Wow! Did you hear that, mom?"

Dayna smiles. "I did, sweetie. But let's not bother the poor man right now. Come on now. I should go help sister. We'll see you again later, Kyle."

The three of them depart back towards the stage.