Moving Mountains

Epilogue

Managing Two Cities, a fair handful of Boom-Towns, and several Thriving Economies, as well as a special Dungeon and the Communities and School within took up much of Josef's time, going forward, but he did manage to keep abreast of world-wide politics, and to maintain a neutral standpoint that, through his economic weight alone, enforced peace, and stemmed a variety of conflicts before they even began. The orphans grew and became students in the School, incredibly successful due to the teaching methods of the teachers that Josef and Vanya spent most of their spare time finding and hiring, and within fifteen years or so, everything had settled into a smooth system, barely warranting their interference at all as it sort of ran itself.

Every new group of orphans, (or simply prospective students,) was taught to the vastly inflated standards of Josef, until each and every one of them was a Scholar in their own right, and they in turn guided the next generation, and on and on.

Josef settles into a sort of Casual Eternity, a Semi-Retirement of doing what he enjoyed most, teaching, while dealing with the various X-Class Dungeons that would naturally occur occasionally, (once every decade or so,) and the 'Heroes' Party' would often visit and challenge his dungeon as well, while they weren't off dealing with other things. Vanya would occasionally go with them, as she got progressively stronger by simple connection with Josef and his Demi-God-Like powers, and would eventually go on to take over the position of Queen of her homeland, quietly annexing it under Josef's Rule, and he, in turn, eventually conquered the Kingdom of Thorns, though he instantly, to everyone's confusion and disappointment, turned both into a Democratic Monarchy of sorts, with himself as the Patriarch of a Lineage of Respected Heroes, watching over and offering guidance (with a rebuttal, veto, or punishment for the rare case of professional misconduct,) to a Parliament of Respected Individuals, each elected from their respective territories from amongst the most educated or most creative individuals of that territory.

At first there was some confusion to the Democratic Process, some reluctance to the people Voting, (especially the Elves and Dwarves, whose long memories and stubborn natures made them difficult to change,) but after the first few years; as the kinks and problems ironed themselves out, it became a smooth process, and an even smoother transition as each cycle of ten years came about, and even the long-loved species' got used to it.

The removal of the Dragons from the Archipelago, and Josef's converting each thusly vacated island into a different kind of Mine which was regularly infested with powerful magical creatures, allowed the Island Nation more opportunities for battle without attacking human settlements, as well as a place for their criminal slaves to do labor. The massive injection of money this brought into their economy meant that most, if not all, of the debt-slaves were free within the first thirty years, and soon it was rather rare for anyone other than a violent criminal to be seen in chains, (except for the prostitutes who still wore them to entice people into buying them for the hour, as it was still a prevalent kink,) and Josef's heavy heart on the subject rested... somewhat easier. He would have liked to remove the practice entirely, but he knew it was so deeply ingrained into their culture that he would have to slowly work at it; while it picked and rankled at him to take his time, being a patient person worked in his favor, and so he did.

As for the Dwarves, the reclamation of the city beneath the Mountain and its development into a full Trade City happened with a surprising expediency, as all of the sales of Dwarven Goods was directed through that city and UnderTown; this proved a very effective method of creating a proof of economic solidarity to force the various nobles to publicly disavow, from pure self-interest, any dwarf-directed hatred or vitriol. This, plus the influx of Dwarven babies due to the new mixture of thousands of Dwarves from all over moving to and operating out of UnderTown and Laurent's City, proved enough to (at least for now,) reestablish dwarves as one of the four dominant races in this world. (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Dragons, of course.)

As for Josef's attempts at rebuilding his Family, there was great success after a bit of time, much like most other areas of his various and Plethoric efforts. After about fifty years of *trying*, Vanya did finally become pregnant, while each and every one of the ArchLiches had had several dozen spawn in that interim, each one returning home perhaps once every two years with new books and a freshly-born baby in their arms. The resultant flood of Elven children was impressive, to say the least, and Vanya and Josef doted on their small daughter quite nearly obsessively, until the second daughter came, five years after that, and the third, a boy, ten after that, and so on and so forth; Josef and Vanya were both near-immortal, and with no expiration date on their abilities to breed, there was no reason to stop making more, after all!!! Each child was spoiled and raised solely by Josef and Vanya for the first five years or so, then partially given over to the ArchLiches for their formal educations and teaching of Magic and Warfare, leading to, over the next hundred years or so, a vastly changed landscape of powerful elven Warriors, finding and conquering most Dungeons before the monsters within managed to escape beyond their borders.

In turn, this increase in Safety on the Roads lead to an increase in Trade, and while explosive economic growth and capitalism were both carefully curtailed by Josef and his Parliament, as it was stated very clearly in their studies that allowing the unfettered or ever-expanding growth of their economy would lead to a recession, and spark off a dangerous cycle that wouldn't benefit any but the most wealthy in a given country. To that note as well, the stored monies of anyone affiliated with the Guild was invested carefully by an elected board of unaffiliated, intelligent scholars within the Guild, to ensure that there was no 'Dead Money', (money that sat in bank accounts and was never used, damaging the economy and the worth of the coinage,) wasting away anywhere. Investing in small companies and shops, Inventors who were sharing their work with their countries of origin, Mages who were enchanting and repairing roads, etc., was the main way in which the economy would grow, but not overburden itself. Supply increased in ratio to Demand, and was carefully, carefully maintained.

This position, known simply as the Auditor's Board, became one of the most highly-regarded and sought-after positions in the Guild, due to its mentally labor-intensive nature and its rewarding perks, such as access to the most influential merchants in the empire, and thus the capability to make, (once you were out of the office, obviously,) business relations with them, and of course the privilege of accessing the Trust (the name for the compiled personal wealth of the Elite Guild Members of each individual nation, that which was invested at the order of the Auditor's Board,) and funding any future business venture you had ideas for after a short review from the Board itself, instead of the longer process of requesting funds from the Guild, which at this point was filling the role of an auxiliary-government type of organization, filling the gaps that the Parliament could not, while also collaborating with them to bring about the most stable economy possible.

Some 4,000 years later, Vanya's Life ended through natural means, and soon after Josef's eyes closed for the last time, as his massive Ancient Red Dragon Form rested upon the roof of his Tower, and he breathed his last of his own accord.

Some seconds later, however, the body stretched like a cat, as the Lich Phylactery, (that had been embedded in Josef's Dragon Form for the past 4,000 years in the form of his Bow,) activated with a soft pulse. The Artificial Intelligence that had been embedded into it, much like the ArchLiches, blinked its eyes slowly, and then casually began its task of protecting the Tower, as it would for many millennia to come.

At that same time, Josef's eyes opened again, as he found himself in another white room with a wall covered in items. "Fucking hell..." he sighed, shaking his head and getting ready for another go at this cycle of reincarnation.