"Young master!!!"
"Are you okay? were you hurt? This Mio thought I would never be able to see you again!"
Grant smiled helplessly, letting the crying Mio do as she wished with his face.
Even though she was stretching his cheeks, Grant couldn't get himself to be mad at her.
In fact in this life atleast, Grant didn't think he would ever be able to be mad at her again.
The figure of the bloodied Mio was still crystal clear in his mind, she literally have her life to protect him, even though they have only met for less than a year.
Seeing her worried face, a warm smile appeared on Grant's face, stretching his hands, he grabbed her waist and pulled her in a hug.
"Y-young m-master!?", Mio's face flushed red, suddenly being hugged by Grant completely caught her off guard making her heart beat faster.
Staring straight into her eyes, Grant connected their forehead together, saying in a low voice.
"Thank you, Mio."
Her eyes enlarged, looking up at the beautiful pair of golden eyes.
"One thing, I promise you as long as it is within my power I shall fullfill any one wish you have."
A small voice escaped her lips.
"Anything?....."
"Anything."
"Then I'll think about it carefully..."
"Indeed opportunities like these don't come very often, think carefully before you decide."
Grant patted her head before parting away.
"I need to go and take a look at the magic tower, you should take a rest."
"I-I'll join you!"
"Be my guest."
Grant gracefully extended his hand which Mio caught in a hurried and not at all graceful manner, but her awkward action only made his smile grow wider.
----------------------------
A world shaking piece of news spread throughout the Stella Fort.
"What! the demi humans are given the same status as us humans? is the Hero crazy!?"
"I saw those ugly things earlier, how can anyone possibly tolerate looking at their pathetic existence every single day?"
"Revolt! We must revolt! the Hero even fired all of the great magicians and craftsman sent by the empire, and is instead using those barbaric things!"
"This is ridiculous!"
An angry crowd consisting of mages, craftsmen, and foot soldiers suddenly surrounded Grant's mansion.
It was important to note that Stella Fort hadn't been recaptured for long, that is why there weren't many residents present here, the entire fort was occupied by trained soldiers, magicians and craftsmen who spent day and night repairing the walls and building the magic tower.
And the main reason they were all willing to do these tedious tasks was because of their Hero Grant Ashdown.
All of them were his admirers, especially the mages who literally revered him like a God.
That is why when they heard the order of demi-humans receiving status equal to that of the humans, most of them couldn't accept it, they felt that their precious Hero was being influenced by these lesser beings, thus all of them gathered in front of Grant's mansion to help him 'correct' his mistake.
On the other hand Grant's response to their revolt was very simple.
"Throw them out."
If you aren't satisfied then leave.
His blunt words dumbfounded the crowd.
"Good since all of you are leaving I would no longer have to worry about where to place my new citizens."
"You have one day, pack up your things and leave."
Seeing Grant wave his hand at them like like he was shooing away a stray animal, pissed off the crowd.
"Arrogant!"
"Is he crazy?"
"Have the Demi-humans placed a curse on him?"
An old looking mage walked out from the crowd and said.
"Hero you are strong without a doubt, but do you seriously think you can manage the entire fortresses by yourself-----"
"I can."
Grant cut him off.
"I can manage the entire fortress by myself."
After that there was nothing to talk about.
More than 95% of humans left the Stella Fort within one day.
As all of them have seen the tre strength of Grant, they weren't idiotic enough to challenge him, knowing full well that he could literally burry them alive in an instant.
But they weren't willing to just go away like that either.
Informing their friends, colleagues and other people related to them, they spread the word convincing lal of them to leave together with them.
Their thinking was simple.
So what if you are a hero?
We refuse to believe that you can manage such a huge fortress in your own!
The remaining 5% were those who were devote believers of Grant and didn't seem to mind the demi-humans much.
With the sudden decrease in man power, Grant needed a solution.
And luckily for him, it appeared the very next day.
"You want to call all of your tribe members over, even ones belonging to different factions?", Grant said while looking at the buffed dwarf, orc, goblin as well as several other species whose name he didn't knew.
(I totally forget what you call a pig demi-human, help me out if you remember it.)
"Yes! Lord Hero!"
All of them said in unison.
Grant didn't reject them, he had no reason to in the first place since he was lacking in manpower, the demi-huns celebrated when they got his approval, some of them even burst out crying on the spot.
Thus under the collective work of several different species, the construction speed of Stella Fort increased by a massive 500%, their work was way superior and more efficient than the human's.
In but a single month the entire walls surrounding the Stella Fort were reinforced using the dwarf's magical techniques.
And with the help of Mio, they were able to safely transport his new citizens from the Wasteland Of Death as well as other forbidden areas.
Of course during this one month period, several messengers from the empire arrived, asking him to return to the royal palace immediately, saying that his majesty had something important to discuss with him and what not.
And of course Grant completely ignored all of them, at one point he simply stopped allowing them entry inside the Stella Fort making them helplessly return back to the Empire.
Several months later.
One day, Grant was looking down at his rapidly developing territory, he thought that the name Stella Fort no longer suited it as Grant would no longer be related to the to the Empire.
"Paradise."
From now on, his territory shall be known as Paradise.
In the next moment a golden light descended from the skies, surrounding Grant, the sudden scene startled his guards but Grant the one who was at the centre of it didn't even have a change of expression as if he had expected it.
In the next moment, Grant appeared inside a familiar palace made out of clouds.
"What is the meaning of this?"
A heavy voice came from behind him, turning around he saw the familiar Goddess, only now her face was no longer smilling.
"I want an explanation Grant."
Seems like his actions have really set her off.