-Grand Noah's castle, reception room-

Another reunion was called for the preparation of the tournament for the Sylph festival that would be organized in Grand Noah. The decision to organize them there had been decided a few months ago, not long after Luka came out from the temple located on the Snow Continent.

Everyone present at the time decided it was time for a break after the recent events. Launching an assault on the Monster Lord's castle would be suicidal if everybody whad not recovered from the shock of the latest events. Besides, it was an occasion to improve the declining relations between monsters and humans. As Grand Noah had the best infrastructure when it came to entertainment thanks to its coliseum, they decided it would be the perfect place to organize those events, and regularly met at the castle to organize them.

Around the table were the leaders of the four kingdoms as well as most queen class monsters that were befriended, such as Laura, the mermaid queen, Fatima, the queen of vampires, and Lucretia, the harpy queen. The angels were represented by Victoria. While the valkyrie was not the highest ranking of the remainders of Heaven, she was reliable and had a growing interest in relations with monsters. At the center was the queen of Grand Noah. As the town was under her management, she was in charge of planning and organizing the events, something for which she had acquired a lot of experience. As usual, Mephisto, her yoma advisor, was standing behind her, smirking.

For a short moment, the Noah queen realized how numerous her allies had become. Before, she used to feel mostly alone in her war against Grangold, as even the neighboring kingdoms only made token efforts to support her. However, since she joined Luka and once the war ended, she could see and interact with the other human lords once again, and then the different monster queens that attacked them eventually joined Luka. She suppressed a smile as she looked at the mecha pope, the golem that was the Grangold king, and Sara, the Sabasa queen whom succubus blood got recently awakened. In a way, she was the only "real" human sitting at the table.

She cleared her throat to attract everyone's attention. Once the room fell silent, she started talking.

"Greetings, and thank you for your presence. We are here today to make the final preparations for the upcoming tournament that will be coupled to the Sylph's festival. We will check the different preparations underway for the festival. We will also confirm the rounds prepared for the tournament, validate the closure on the inscriptions, and, as a whole ensure the town will be able to bear with the extra influx of visitors of various races."

She looked around her, confirming that humans and monsters alike were still listening.

"We want to make sure that those events happen in the best conditions, with minimal risks involved. People must see these as an opportunity to relax from the current events with a spectacle they will not forget. Finally, everyone should keep in mind that the first and foremost goal of these events is too bridge the falling relations between monsters and humans, and particularly between fairies and the population of Grand Noah. The goal is to make sure the populace will accept the support of the monsters who will fight on our side against any enemy that should march against us."

As the queen ended her introduction speech, Mephisto announced.

"Both the Wind Spirit and the fairy queen are missing from this current reunion as they have themselves important preparations to make. Their presence was not required in the first place and I will personally give them a report of this reunion."

"If nobody has any question on these matters, I believe we can get started."

The discussions took several hours. Even if most of the organization was done, managing the accommodations to welcome the influx of the foreseen number of visitors still proved a challenge. Whether they were dancers from Grandeur, travelers from Iliasburg, or nobles from lady's village, visitors had to be properly welcomed and accommodated. It was made harder by the fact that the Scylla and Lamia races were still at each other's throat in spite of the recent reveals about their respective queen's condition, requiring additional planning. Furthermore, the presence of several angels was also additional difficulty to manage. While only the most open minded ones were coming, they still had to take into account the possible overreactions from the clergy and the believers living in the city.

Other issues included the possible involvement of the monster lord's forces or of the second generation seraphim. The latter was passive most of the time, but the former could still prove an issue. The Noah queen initially thought that the presence of so many powerful warriors would deter any attacker, but Succubus, the mayor of the same village reminded her that they'd both see the opportunity to exterminate everyone in one strike and the perspective of powerful challenges, as well as a number of potential partners. The Grangold king agreed and decided the best way to limit the risk was to have enough healers to guarantee any warrior who just fought in the tournament would be ready should it come to worst.

Their conversation was interrupted by the door opening slowly. One guard entered to announce a newcomer's arrival.

"Her majesty Freya, the elven queen, from Fairy's Island!"

The blond queen entered with her usual haughty port, before she bowed respectfully in front of her audience.

"I apologize for my lateness, I just had a communication with the fairy queen following an incident in the pocket castle."

Mephisto's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this.

"Did something happen in Luka's absence?"

Freya cringed when she remembered the visions her friends telepathically transmitted her.

"Fortunately, nothing too serious, only a reminder of the reason we are organizing this tournament in a month in the first place." She looked down, as if she didn't want anyone to hear what she would say next. "Because it will be a time out of any race's mating season, which should limit the risk of any fight turning into an orgy if a man happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

The Noah queen raised an eyebrow but decided to not push further this point. There were already several other potential issues to deal with and she trusted the elven queen in her judgment.

Freya made her way silently to an empty chair located next to Antline, the queen of ants. The latter was the chosen representative for all insect races, as the hornet queen was still working on developing her nest in the mountains and the spider princess could still not be relied upon when it came to acting like a decent being.

The conversation about the risks surrounding the events resumed itself. Discussions about guaranteeing that the more predatory monsters would behave themselves took most of the afternoon. Between the close watch that would be kept on the festival, the presence of other powerful monsters and the likeliness of volunteers from Pornof to come (several snickers could be heard), the consensus was that they would not be a problem to the population as a whole. Furthermore, Luka was the face of the festival. The council hoped his growing reputation would help keep everybody down.

Afterwards, the royals addressed the question of the randomness of the weather and the possibility of natural disasters, such as the rising number of earthquakes or the black snow that recently fell on Saloon. The stadium was reinforced and had the means to protect everyone against the whimsical weather, and most natural disasters. Eventually, all possible issues were either resolved or were so out of their control that they could only hope for the best.

Lastly, the question of the reward for the winners and the runner ups was brought on the table. Initially, the queen considered giving out a cup, some equipment from the treasury, and a royal favor. However, considering the winner could be a ferocious monster or a bigot with his own agenda, the last one could be a source of trouble. After a long discussion, they decided that a large some of gold instead was way less risky, as the winner could buy anything he or she wanted without directly involving Grand Noah's responsibility. As everybody was at least mostly satisfied with the elements discussed, the queen brought the reunion to a close and thanked everyone once again.

The room slowly emptied, as everybody left in order. Eventually, only Alice, Mephisto and the Noah queen remained in the room. Once everybody got out, the queen asked Alice.

"Was there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask Mephisto how her new pupil was doing."

Mephisto sighed, but kept her signature smirking expression. She carefully cast a spell to soundproof the room. While she was sure nobody would be listening, even less caring about the issue at hand, she didn't want to try her luck.

"She isn't so much a tough nut to crack than an explosive one. Her mental defenses and abilities are nothing exceptional, probably because she got weakened quite much by the apoptosis. The biggest issue at hand is her innate mental link that she shares with her sisters. Ill-treating her would likely attract the attention of the other two very fast, and I am not sure we would be able to properly deal with them."

The yoma magician massaged her forehead with her hand. "And I don't consider using it to keep track of them. Even if we somehow manage to use it to locate them at any times, it would be too difficult for us to intercept them. The best we can do currently is asking Morrigan to send messages to her sisters for us should the need come."

Alice sarcastically responded. "Great. And even then, it would be better if we managed to improve our reputation in their eyes. Exploiting their cute little sister for our own end or harming her would end up horribly. And if their mother decides to get involved, they would maybe not even get to end at all."

She shivered.

"I agree, although that link could still show to be a boon if we manage to incept ideas into her mind and use her to communicate with her sisters. We would be able to make sure they don't come to disturb our upcoming games, for example." Mephisto looked down. "Of course, it would still be limited to what doesn't sound too out of character for her, and if they want to listen. Succubi are like children in this manner, in that the best way to get them to do something specific is to tell them to not do it."

Alice closed her eyes as she crossed her arms. "The best way to keep them at bay is making them think it will be boring, which won't work here. We can only hope they will have their hands full with the recent events. In any way, did you learn anything else from her about her world or their plan?"

Mephisto's expression turned serious. She looked briefly at the queen, checked her enchantments again, and even lowered her voice as she got closer to Alice.

"You won't like what you're going to hear."