Duke Iophiel Cynan promptly nodded his head as he received the orders, responding with, "Yes, Your Majesty."
The Duke then snapped his fingers, and right then, two figures from their ranks disappeared out of thin air. The illusion conjured by Duke Cynan was of the bodies of his comrades, the Percival brothers.
The reason why none of the nobles, who had paid a visit to the Emperor in the audience room, found anything strange in the presence of the Rounds was that Iophiel's copied illusions are capable of replicating every mannerism of their original.
He was responsible for creating the doubles of Leliel and Rehael whenever they were staying in the Barbarian territory. It was his job to make sure that there was no possibility of suspicions that were directed to them to emerge.
Returning to the matter at hand, the whereabouts of the siblings was last known to be at an island, located in the northern part of the continent. They were in pursuit of adversaries that would invoke a devastating apocalypse if not dealt with accordingly.
In this world, one had to be wary of several existences that would pose a threat to the balance of peace; the wild barbarians who inhabit the unclaimed lands; the tribes who practiced ancient divination and metamorphosis akin to the dragons; enemy nations together with political rivals; superior species such as dwarves, elves, fairies and elemental spirits, giants, and others; lastly, demons that breed monsters.
Monsters were creatures with grotesque features, not belonging to any class. They did not litter the lands nor stick around in a particular area. They were slaves who were brought as luggage when demons decided to wander places. It was the main principle of the knights to annihilate a demon when sighted to prevent their minions from propagating.
In this instance, Iophiel would serve as the harbinger of bad news to the Emperor. Khamael, one of the Percival brothers, let Iophiel know of the situation they were in right before the scuffle of Rehael and Zelel ended.
"We were several steps too late, Your Majesty. The Demon Noble has already integrated its seal and settled itself on the island. As observed, it appears that it was collecting the souls of the inhabitants, whether human or animal, who refuses to serve or befriend it, and even the weak ones who are cowering in fear. Presently, a grand total of twenty legions of minor level demons and monsters has been summoned and are slowly pillaging the lands of the tribes situated on the island."
Although minor demons and monsters attacked in clusters, the knights could probably deal with a couple of legions alone without breaking a sweat. Still, it was a heightened danger altogether if the presence of certain demons were present, mainly the spirits of Solomon, the Demon Nobles.
The Demon Nobles have a colossal number of pawns at their disposal. Nevertheless, the problem lied not with the quantity of demons, but the Demon Nobles themselves.
Demon nobles could not be defeated by battling their physical bodies. One of the few ways to drive them out was to erase their personal seals. It was the easiest out of all the choices. Regardless of that fact, the requisites to annihilate the seals vary from demon to demon. The sole technique to discover these conditions was through a cycle of trial-and-error.
The room fell silent since they were in a plight.
Thankfully, Duke Cynan's following speech gave the knights assurance.
"Fortunately, the two Lords were able to covertly scrutinize the Demon Noble and finally found some information about it, Your Majesty. Firstly, its appearance was sort of a primate with a towering height of almost three meters. It is always seen holding a staff that serves as its weapon. Its name was, I believe, Ro-"
"Ronove"
"I beg your pardon?" The Duke raised an eyebrow to the Emperor's sudden interruption. As far as he knew, the point of contact between the two parties was only him, yet the Emperor was aware of one thing that he had yet to relay.
'How did he-' Duke Cynan cut-off his suspicion, shaking his head thereafter. It was a poor attempt to find a reason for the Emperor's awareness.
'I can inquire after this.' He concluded ahead of collecting his calmness, latterly responding to the Emperor.
"Yes, that is correct, Your Majesty. The Demon Noble that drifted in our world is Ronove."
The Emperor tightly shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, displaying that he was in an in-depth pondering. After a while, he leisurely opened them and spoke, "The ceremony for the Holy Grail typically stretches out for two cycles of the nine Orcuns. We are also not in possession of Solomon's seal." While the Emperor was talking, he met the eyes of all of his knights one-by-one.
Once he was done, his gaze returned to Duke Sarakiel Helian. He soughed, regret coming out with his breath.
"Despite being forewarned of the essence of your sacrifice, I beg of you, Sarakiel, please take the matter in your hands."
Every single person in the room was perturbed when they ascertained the damning declaration. They forthwith suppressed their rumination of the aftermath. Still and all, even if they present themselves to be in assistance, they would only derail the specifics of the plan.
There were three missions wherein they clashed with a Demon Noble, and three times that a seat in the Rounds had been emptied and reoccupied. Moreover, in those three instances, they were solely able to watch their comrades fade into nothingness, petrified by the assailants' prowess.
Lauviah, who was inseparable to the initial group to occupy the seats, gritted her teeth out of frustration.
'The Emperor looked as though it has been predetermined that Sarakiel will be sent. We cannot interfere with his decision. If we had acquired Solomon's seal, the Star of David, we would not be in trouble every time a Demon Noble visited. Except, we cannot even find a clue about it. I don't even know if it is a relic that exists.' There were a lot of things swimming in the Countess' mind, making the lines on her face show up.
Meanwhile, the subject, Sarakiel, duly accepted his fate. He traipsed to a spot directly in front of the Emperor, that was at the bottom of the steps, and proceeded to genuflect on one knee.
"There is no need for you to beg, Your Majesty. You only have to command. This is, after all, our supreme duty. My life doesn't amount to anything if it is for achieving eternal harmony within the empire."