"It looks that Arapi has got even more power than we thought" I say out loud to the people that are besides me right now, Eliana, Peko and Zenith.
"Against such a Kingdom we will have to hold our own" Says Eliana thoughtful, Zenith and Peko are silent as they walk.
While walking we see many restrained soldiers that still seems to have fighting spirit left, they are a lot, but they haven't tried to escape. Without their weapons and handing their armor, the possibility of them dying by a couple of swings of the Barbarians is high, so they are being calm.
I was planning to execute their leader if he were to lie to me, but I was going to let them go after a while depending on their behavior and their work, but at that time when I spoke with him, I truly committed myself in executing them all…
I sigh to myself and gaze at our soldiers and group of friends that still seems to be celebrating the victory, I smile at that, walking to their place to speak with them along with Zenith and the others.
Arksen is the first to talk as he sees me approaching, a wide, silly grin plastered on his face "Hey Lord, how did it go?" He asks in a somewhat light tone that hides worry behind it
"It went fine" I tell him, and everyone look relieved at that
"But we will have to grow more if Arapi decides to move again, even so, I highly doubt it will be any time soon" Says Eliana seriously and I nod while she says that. I also doubt they will attack us again; their reputation fell along with Prinny Brigade's. The morale and reproach incited by the soldiers' family will also create a problem for them, after all they have lost roughly 30000 soldiers in trying to raid a single Village
"Yes, but now let's focus on rebuild and improve the village, we can also make some houses for ourselves" Says Isa as she tries to disperse the serious mood that is going on and we smile at that.
"We can take it easy… right?" Says Vladi while looking at us, especially Eliana who smiles a bit and answers.
"Yes, we can't continue like this, all tense. We also have to take care of these matters, so I might say that we can spend some time here and bring newbies… I would like a house around here too, we might make this place the main HQ of our Guild"
I smile at that and Zenith who stayed silent all this time raises his voice while looking at us "I will make a house too, we plan to settle here…" I turn to him and I spot something that surprises me along with everyone else.
Peko is blushing a bit as they are holding hands.
"Hoho~ so you have finally done it" I tell him with a mischievous smile, I thought this would happen, but not so soon.
"Congratulations~" We tell them as they get a bit bashful, we need to celebrate this!
We talk for a while asking them question about what happened to them, it seems after the battle, the one who stopped the frenzied Zenith was Peko, when he realized that she was in front of him, he hugged her tightly and couldn't resist his emotions anymore. The battle took a big toll on our bodies and mentality, so that might have helped in Zenith's 'breakthrough'.
I am truly glad about this, I was even planning something for them to get together after this matter is over and the others seemed to be thinking about that too.
After we finish talking and organizing some things with the Guild and the enemy soldiers, Eliana says
"Oh yeah, there is the matter of the interview, let's talk about it after our useless leader comes back"
'Useless, huh. You will have to work hard, Kagito' I smile while thinking of our leader.
As we finish for the day I log out and I see that there is quite a talk in the news about our battle…
Like that, we try to put things in order. I see updates in our webpage, probably made of Eliana. Just like that, a day passes, and we reunite with our Leader that gave his life to win against Tyrfing.
'I can get used to this' I smile slightly while sipping my tea as I think of all the relaxation after the war…
Oh boy, how wrong I was…
-------------------------------------------------------
As I wake up, I turn on the TV immediately because I died after my fight with Tyrfing.
I start watching the battle in many viewpoints, and I realize that our numbers were decreasing fast by the time we reached our side.
A cold sweat run through my back and the thought of not making it in time comes to my mind.
'I should've rushed sooner... no, by now the battle must have ended, if we lost then they would have told me already' I thought while giving myself hope as I nervously keep watching. Without realizing, my palms were full of sweat as I clenched them continuously.
Then I watch the scene of my clash with Tyrfing, she was really fierce but what surprise me more is Ardha as he is trying to defend me using whatever he has. He sure is damned strong! I couldn't see his fight as I was too busy trying to defeat Tyrfing, but wow!
I can feel my blood boiling as I keep watching him fight. Fierce swordplay, extreme magical control, swift activation of skills, and an almost ridiculously fast reaction speed. Everything seemed to be in his range of perception as he reacted instantly to every attack.
Unexpectedly my fight took a lot of time, I thought it lasted seconds, but it seems I was wrong. I smile bitterly but now I can finally see what happened after my death.
But I get awestruck as I see a man splitting people as he waves his sword in the midst of thousands of enemies.
"So that's his true power…" I could hear myself muttering out loud. But really, I wouldn't be able to stand a chance against him at that state, his steps are light but, all of a sudden, the ground breaks as he realizes crushing attacks.
Magic is redirected, his wounds that aren't many, start to regenerate, his body movements looks scarce, but he evades almost everything that comes his way, darkness deflect attacks and his swords emanates light.
If before he was already ridiculously fast, with extreme precision, now he was a tempest full of destructive power!
'The strongest player' The thought enters my mind and my fists clench hard, 'I want to fight against him too!'
Soon, an image makes me snap out of my reverie as I see the villagers are acting. Zenith looked like a berserk in the battlefield. His eyes were full of rage and bloodlust as tremendous waves of a darkish aura hit his surroundings. Truly, these two go beyond and beyond… I could feel that if a single attack of Zenith falls on my, I would be incapacitated instantly.
Every wave of his sword killed at least one player, multiple deaths weren't rare too. The Earth splits apart whenever he steps forward, and dark magic annihilates the enemies in front of him.
Soon enough, I watch how our opponents drop their weapons and many disappeared in grey lights.
"Yes!" I exclaim overwhelmed about our victory, joy swelling in my whole body.
'We won! So, it wasn't too late!'
Like this, I cheerfully go outside, and I start exercising to calm down a bit. I was sweating already before starting, but I am all fired up!!!
I can barely wait to finally go into the game as I prepare myself more and more. I want to get to that realm too!
When the restriction is over, I log in and see that everyone is there. I get greeted by them, and I give them a wide smile. Then, Eliana steps forwards and as I think she would reproach me for dying she says
"Good job" …
…
Whoa, that surprised me. I see everyone that are smiling while looking at me and they start telling me the same.
"Thanks…" I say, moved because of the recognition of my work. For some reason I feel my throat is choking a bit, my fingers trembling. Pride shows in my eyes as I look at them and nod enthusiastically.
I notice that some enemy solider are here… working? And like that Ardha told me everything about it as we walk to the mayor's house. Him becoming the Lord and the 'negotiations' going 'smoothly'.
As we talk, I get surprised that the first couple of the group has formed, Zenith and Peko, I congratulate them and then Eliana starts speaking.
"Kagito, we were talking about doing the interview this Saturday, can you come too?" By the way she said it, it looks they would do it even if I couldn't… I smile bitterly at that.
"Yes, I can!" I answer and Eliana speaks again.
"Good, now we have to inform about our success to the King, we already told the Lord of Vastri about it" At that I get surprised, how did she inform him?
"How did you inform him?" I make my question
"I PMed Helium and he informed it"
"Ohhh, so that's how you did it…" I say, Helium is the disciple of Lombard and one of the best blacksmiths of our Guild… well, there aren't many, but aye.
"And when should we go?" I ask her, with my teleportation skill I can take everyone in a split second, but my maximum capacity is 10 people and the delay depend on the quantity too, I used it to pierce Tyrfing. Well, it was incomplete, so it just accelerated my motion, but my arm gave out, as if the muscles got torn and my bones shattered… it hurt so much. But somehow… I felt a bit of enlightenment of how to use my teleportation skill, or well… heh.
"Well, the King says that everything is ready to receive us anytime, so today would be good" Says Eliana… so everything is already done. For some reason I feel useless.
"I will go representing Hellish Village" Says Ardha. Vladi and Isa looked enthusiastic to go too, and Arksen has a totally relaxed expression while smiling lightly. As I am about to say that we should go now, Zenith speaks.
"Peko and I won't go, we will stay here looking after the soldiers and build our house" Zenith nods slowly with an apologetic expression as he says that.
As I am about to retort that they should go, I thought about it for a second. They are Demi-Humans, not only that, Zenith is the Death Lord. If someone in the palace were to find out, only troubles would be waiting for us, and it looked that everyone understood that, so I just nod at them.
"Okay…" Then I remember something that I wanted to do after seeing the news "Ardha, let's have a fight"
Everyone seems to jump a bit about my request, and Eliana looks at me as she can't believe what I just say, I think this is the first time I have ever requested a fight after all.
Ardha calmly answers me with a smile that says that he saw that coming for a reason.
"Let's do it, but I will fight you after Aren"
Aren… that is the Barbarian's platoon leader. He looks strong, at least he should have enough strength that I without defenses would be split like butter with a hot knife.
"Good for me" As I say that, three people start exhibiting fighting spirit too. They seem to be Vladi, Arksen and Zenith… too many hot-blooded people here.
I feel Eliana sighing besides me along with Isa… sorry for causing problems!
I chuckle as I feel my fighting spirit soaring through. I can barely hold on anymore, feeling how my hands are twitching for a good fight!!
Making our way outside, it feels like stepping onto a battlefield again.
And this time, my opponent is the supposedly strongest player of Parallel!