Greet your guests.

First, you walk past them, and while eyes glance in your direction, their attention is yet to be taken. Then you cross your arms as you look to the smug sunheart with her hood pulled back--pigtails dangling over the edge of the armrest as she lays back even farther, staring at you sideways with crimson eyes. The little spy gives you a wave before slowly pulling herself up to sit properly.

"I believe that's my seat," you say with your arms crossed.

"Oh is it~?" She giggles.

You roll your eyes. "What was that code phrase again? Ele... Elephant..."

With impressive speed, Lynx stands right up off the seat and stands even more politely than Yin. She bows her head and whispers, "I was keeping it warm for you, Demon King," before scooting timidly to the side. She stands beside it now, hands crossed, with colour in her cheeks.

Then you sit.

Poof! Yin appears beside the throne, though opposite to Lynx. Eyes start to turn your direction more, one by one. There's about a dozen individuals, all wearing commoner clothing, and they're a mixed bag of races--humans, catfolk, bunnyfolk, dwarves, elves, and even a gnome. While they look a little worse for wear, they seem to be uninjured. They're just worn. Certainly, they aren't servants of a Demon King, nor are they warriors of justice here to slay you. However, they've come all this way, up the mountain path, to enter your domain regardless.

"What brings all of you here?" you ask with a booming voice.

"Wow, he's not as tall as I expected," speaks a murmuring voice in the group.

An elven man quickly slaps his hand over his ally's lips. "Aha. Well, your majesty, word has gotten out of your settlement up in the mountains. I have heard all sorts of stories, though I do not know which ones are true or not. Tales of your might, and the strength of your army."

"And I know another lived up in these parts before." A female dwarf nudges the elf aside and snorts. "There were rumours of a powerful demon here, but you all slew him, didn't you? Now that's badass."

The elf continues, albeit bothered by the interruption. "We do not have a lot of places that welcome us."

"We wanna live here!" a man blurts out.

Lynx leans in. "At least some of them are criminals, if not all of them," she whispers. "From what I can guess, anyway. I have a keen eye for this sort of thing. But I mean, we're criminals too, aren't we? They have to be pretty brave or pretty stupid to risk coming here though, but I guess they had high hopes of who you'd be."

You nod and look to the group. "Why do you have nowhere to go?" you ask.

The dwarf responds. "Some are thieves. Others swear they did nothing. Either way, we've a band of folk not wanted in the Empire anymore. Or should I say, we are wanted." She chuckles. "But living out in the wilds is dangerous. Then we heard rumours of a growing settlement in the mountains, run by a Demon King, filled with all sorts of creatures. And they were true! You've even got a smithy here, and between the trees and flowers, it ain't what I expected at all."

Castle Phoenix was a refuge, and a home for me and those I've grown to care about. But it's changed a lot over time. Other misfits have joined, and it really is a settlement. We have trade, shops, but there's room for so much more... Is this the next move? They don't want me in the Empire either, so the solution could be to truly have a town of my own. It's kinda that already.

You stand from your seat, and attempt to appear as dignified as possible. With your hand resting upon the pommel of your sword, you wait a moment for the crowd to settle and the mumbling to cease, which happens purely by your watchful visage. It's a good feeling. "So you all want to live within the walls of Castle Phoenix. Is that right? Then you need to know what that means. This isn't just a quaint little village. Everyone here contributes something, so we can continue to grow and thrive. That's what we need to do, with our smaller numbers, and our separation from the Empire. That also means that we're a family. You under no circumstances will steal from anybody here, nor will you seek to harm them. Is that clear?"

"Of course," replies the elf. "We did not get his far stabbing each other in the back."

The gnome bows his head. "And we'd be real dumbasses to do that to a Demon King."

"Good. I'll be heading out soon, but we'll find you places to stay and things to do in my absence. Yin, can you find Nyllia? Tell her that I'll need her leadership, and explain the situation."

"Yes, Master," Yin replies. She bows her head and then disappears into a plume of smoke.

Well, this is going pretty well. Even if they are criminals, like Lynx said, so are we. I think they know the position they're in. I won't turn down help anyway. The more people we have, the more we'll thrive.

As you peer over their faces, they seem to be more shocked than you would have expected. Surely your demeanour isn't so intimidating to cause faces to turn pale. Though inspecting them closer shows their eyes peer beyond where you stand. Slowly, you turn your head to follow their line of vision. What you see floating over your throne might terrify them, but you breath a sigh of relief when you spot the ghostly image of a sweet elven girl--short hair, glasses, dress flowing into a wispy tail, all translucent white. Mela doesn't seem to realize what she's doing.

"Do you need something, Mela? you ask.

The group mumbles again amongst one another. "Did he say Nyllia, as in Lady Tesgella? Are they on a first-name basis?" asks one. "Is he talking to a ghost?!" another blurts out.

Mela shakes her head. "Oh, not specifically. I only wished to see what was happening. I heard we had guests, which we do not often do."

"Remember what I said about how going through walls and doors spooks people?" you ask.

"Ah, sorry! I did not mean to disrupt what was happening."

You snicker and look back to the crowd. "Hey, so if you can't handle something like Mela, you might not find it uncomfortable here."

The dwarf shakes her head. "No, no! We can handle ghosts. Just surprised me is all!"

"Indeed," the elf adds. "But ah, are you truly in an intimate relationship with an elven ghost?"

Mela waves her hands. "No, no. It is not like that. W-We could not even sleep together, so s-surely we are not in a relationship," she blurts out.

That's really strange reasoning. Also, we did sleep together technically...