Bid farewell to the bandits.

You aren't waiting for long. Monarch returns from her hut, now with an envelope in-hand. She sashays straight up to you, offers it out, and after it's taken, she waves to her nearby allies to listen again. "Quickly now! I grow more pissed off about all that happened each moment I am not progressing westward... To have another being in your mind, nudging you towards decisions you may not have normally made. It is truly disgusting. Faster, I said!"

The envelope's beauty is not what one would expect from a group of mountain bandits. It seems good parchment is not something Monarch skimps on. There's a wax seal as well, with the same symbol you saw tattooed on Kaelana's ass. You stow it away for now.

"Are we heading out then?" Niki asks.

"Yeah. Seems like it. No use in travelling together, since they're heading off into the outskirts, and we're gonna be moving way faster on the road with our emus. They got a lot to think about after all that anyway."

"I understand. If that happened to me, I'd be sprinting straight to the guy's door to kick his ass."

"Well if it actually was William, his door is pretty far in the sky."

"I might be able to throw the other girls that high."

"N-No thank you," Xiaoqing responds.

You gather your belongings. Thankfully with all the greenery out in the fields, even between rocky hillsides, as well as the random bits of food dropped by the bandits, your emus are full and ready to run. As you grab hold of the reins of your own, you hear quick footfalls coming in your direction. When you turn, you see Kaelana.

"Ah! I just wanted to say thank you again." She places a hand on her chest and bows her head. "I feel like there was a version of events where I didn't make it back here in one piece. You could have killed me, but you didn't. And you even heard my pleas for help. Monarch said it best. Demon Kings don't have their name because they come from the Realm of Darkness. It's because they're unshakable leaders. She likes Demon Kings because they aren't so different than the leader of some mountain bandits. The only difference is one is labelled with a big target on their head by whatever wealthy people don't like them. I bet to your actual friends, you have plenty of other titles."

"I've been collecting them, yeah," you reply.

"Keep them," says Monarch as she enters the conversation, much to the shock of Kaelana--evident by her sudden jump. "Good or bad, titles hold power, and if you claim them, they cannot be used against you. I came to bid you safe travels once more, Demon King. You are quite fortunate."

Eva leans in close to you and whispers, "I don't like her."

You nod to the elf. "We'll meet again I'm sure. Sorry the Demon King of your land isn't quite as fun."

That brings a wide smile to her face. "The feeling is mutual. And do not feel jealous. That other man is dreadfully dull by comparison. He is lacking a certain... spark that I am unsure how to explain. Despite his title, I have far less interest in him. Now go. Next time we run into one another, I would like to see more of how you lead. By how your allies look to you, I can tell in an instant that any enemy of yours would be a fool to attack. This is good."

Amara curtsies her dress. You can tell by watching her that she greatly enjoying being able to show off her newest garment. "Thank you for hosting us."

"Back on the road again," says Niki. "I kinda hope the next bandits that attack us aren't so nice, to be honest. I don't want to go a whole adventure without a real fight."

"I'd at least rather it be monsters," Xiaoqing responds. "I don't feel quite as good about beating up thieves. At least if they're frothing, snarling demons or something like that--"

"Then we can blow them up with no remorse! True!" Eva says, slapping her hands together into a loud clap.

Xiaoqing leans in closer to you, and she whispers quietly near your ear. "Do you ever wonder if the minds of people in Absoterra just work different?"

You whisper back, "I think it's more that I end up getting stuck with the hopeless ones."