I looked around at the many individuals gathered at the large circular table. Marquess Foreman; a pale, middle aged man with short red hair and serious grey eyes looked on with a tired face. The man next to him was Count Rory, a muscled and almost borish looking older man with graying hair and green eyes. it was no surprise the marquess and he was here; but what did surprise me was that they had managed to gather all of the kingdoms heros. aside from the fair skinned and fair haired saintess, there were 3 others. Neil Carter a renowned mage, he had curly pink hair with strange murky blue eyes. Paris Delamore who is a famed beast master with long black hair and golden eyes. Lastly was Vivian, a talented spearman with brown bobbed hair and grey eyes. These were the people I had information about so I could guess what to expect from them; the problem was the nobleman....
"Now that everyone is here I'd like us to begin the advisory." Said king Erick. he sat down and everyone else followed. Myself, the Heros, and some others remained quiet however many officials and nobles once seated started a series of statements that escalated; followed by exclamations and bickering among the members present. I sighed and looked at Erick with pity.
"Silence, I said silence! Are you dogs or are you men?!" He raised his voice and the table returned to its former state. he relaxed back again and continued to speak.
" There is more at stake than your assets presently; try to think of the future ahead." A look of slight embarrassment and anxiety fluttered on many of their faces before they returned to looking stoic and unbothered. the King feigned a cough then continued.
"First we should discuss what signs lead to the discovery of a demon lord; after all the ones who would be fighting should be informed." Erick looked at me and the others as I looked on with a stony expression. how much work was put into this anyway? the rumors of a demon lord's awakening had been floating around for a while now months upon months in fact. if there really was a demon lord wouldn't they have made a proclamation or something already? This was the first demon lord since the time of the barbaric Primordial Gods' reign.
The saintess then stood up and with a gentle voice began to rattle off a list of possible signs that a demon lord has been born, it was honestly very convincing but the lack of a vision made the list only hypothetical.
"Monsters have begun moving in mass, and monsters are becoming more organized as well. There are many villages expressing a need for guards as the number of monster attacks are rising, as well as large amounts of mana being detected in the mountains of Blavire recently; of course that is being investigated. There have also been many sightings of a powerful monster who's the possible culprit for the slaughtering of many adventures, Finally the most troubling is that a number of priests have gone blind; This is also being investigated." She ended her list with a glance at His Majesty who with a nod took over.
"As you well know in the past humans couldn't fight against the powers of the demon lords no matter what happened or what was predicted by the Oracles; this made many older kingdoms after so many years avoid demon lords. However I believe our kingdom has the power to fight back. We have powerful Heroes, even a champion of the god of light ; on our side! there isn't anything we should have to fear." Erick sounded confident and the nobles seemed to agree. He stared at me with a look of pride and though I looked on confidently I felt sick inside.
"Excuse me for cutting in Your Majesty; Saintess" Said Paris who stood up with a bow and continued.
"As troubling as that list is; without a vision to confirm the birth of a demon lord and future war wouldn't we be scrambling for nothing; and if there is a demon lord picking a fight without just cause?" she asked with concern, however before Erick or the saint could respond one; of the nobleman and then many others began to laugh.
"Please, this isn't one of your silly pets! a demon lord is a tainted existence, you're letting your sympathy for monsters interfere with your better judgement."
"Exactly. You should be more quiet like your betters!" He glanced over at the saintess who then looked troubled and apologetic. Paris ignored them and stared at Erick who nodded as if thinking about it.
"If I may ; your highness" I said as I stood up gathering the gazes of everyone at the table. with a glance Paris sat back down and gave me a stoic expression.
"I agree with Paris, there is certainly cause for further investigation. before we can make a decision that list presented to us 2 unknowns. rightly so usually there is a calling card of sorts for Demon lord attacks, demands, etc; and in the legends this is predicted by an Oracle. moreover there is one thing I didn't hear on that list which would confirm the existence of a demon lords' birth without a doubt.'' It seemed everyone was either curious or annoyed with my interference. however I wasn't happy about any of this; if a demon lord wasn't born then what did all this mean?
"according to legend from the War of the Gods The final evolution for a demon lords' birth is the ceremonial slaughter of other beings. usually to the point of near annihilations on the scale of an entire county. on that list you said that monster attacks have increased but there isn't a mention of a strange discovery after an attack." one advisory official tried to cut in but I cut him off.
"We wouldn't miss such an event on a scale so large, that even if everyone was killed leaving no witnesses there would be signs of war and or ceremony." I stared at Eric who looked at me with slight displeasure for the first time; it was a shocking sight to say the least. We never disagreed on anything; how funny was it that it would occur during such an important meeting.
Erick closed his eyes slowly as if calculating something, I tried not to hold my breath as I waited; there were many officials talking among themselves. Some looked confused, others looked worried. I chanced a glance in Paris's direction and found her looking at me with inquiring eyes. through this entire meeting the other Heros didn't say a thing. one might mistake that for being shy but the truth was that we could feel our opinions weren't really wanted. from the beginning aside from me and Paris the others probably didn't talk because of deep seeded Antipathy. Niel was the bastard child of a noble, Vivian was a commoner from the countryside. Granted I was a commoner before my rise to champion; but it was because I was blessed by the God of light Jazigor; no religious or superstitious man dared speak ill of me, to speak ill of me was to speak ill of the decisions of the gods.
"Alright." said Erick. His eyes were clear as if coming to a decision. he continued;
"It is true we can't go to war with so little evidence. the people would find our administration and my rule lacking otherwise. However we can't sit and do nothing with the possibility of a demon Lord loaming and so we will take a hiatus for now and further investigate the strange abnormalities that have presented themselves. Once finished we will reconvene to make a final decision. " He looked straight at me then.
" Let's hope this delay in action is beneficial to us; lest we lose thousands of lives." his voice was grave in tone after which he dismissed the advisory. I replayed that moment quietly to myself. His message to me was clear; the blood of many would be on my hands if the Demon lord attacked and we were unprepared for it. I headed for the exit of the castle only to be stopped by Paris.
"Why did you side with me on this matter Sword Master Don?"