*Snap*
I was still burning in fury because of the condition of the castle I came home to, but at the sound of a snap I recalled that this death knight still needed to be taken care of.
'It would be simple to just kill it, in fact I have to. I can't let someone walk over my territory without restraint. However, I'll need to be prepared to take care of loose ends after I kill it. Hmm, oh I know!'
"Stand back. I'll handle the clean up here."
"Huh? Are you sure, master? I can still-"
"No, I've decided. Besides, what I'll be doing is a little nonstandard."
"Ho! I look forward to it."
"Shouldn't you be reflecting right now?"
"Sorry."
I nasally sighed in exasperation before approaching the fallen death knight. It was in quite the disgraceful state as it trembled in place but I felt no pity, nor did I consider mercy.
Still, since I didn't like taking any extra steps because it was backing away in fear, I held it in place with Poltergeist and placed my palm on its skull.
As a being with a stronger undead nature compared to Isma, it would be much harder for me to tamper with its memories. However, I couldn't use Assimilation on it either since I could also see a line coming from its soul to someplace far in the distance.
It didn't look as strict as the one that was used on Isma, but it was definitely something that could be used to alert someone the moment it died.
Therefore, I knew I had to come up with a way to tamper with its mind without killing it. Luckily, among undead races skeletons had one of the weakest bonds connecting their bones to their soul, so I could harvest its soul without injuring it.
I took my time grasping the size of its soul and then slowly extracted a small sphere. The sphere looked like a ball of green gas condensed to this shape. Even though it was in my hand, it seemed otherworldly. As if it would vanish at any moment.
"Is that his soul?"
"That's right."
"Woah..."
I stood up with the sphere in my hand and kept looking at it for a couple more seconds before storing it in my ring. Saying that the death knight was dead now that it had lost its soul wouldn't be a wrong statement, but because the soul didn't scatter no alert would be sent out.
'I can't wait to start experimenting.'
Still, there probably wasn't much time left before they got suspicious and came looking for this guy. Which meant I had to speed everything up.
"I need to get back to Queen."
"You called?"
!
Frightened by the sound of a familiar voice, I swiftly turned around to see Queen along with Jeanne and Kaili, who was still asleep. I could tell that Jeanne had teleported them here, but more importantly,
"Why are you here?" I asked while glaring at Queen.
I might have already seen her home, but considering its current condition my castle was in no shape to welcome any visitors.
However, Jeanne seemed to be drowning in regret and guilt so I sent a telepathic message.
'No, I'm not blaming you."
I didn't know how effective my message was, but at the very least Jeanne seemed to regain some of her composure.
"Aren't you the one who wanted a reward? Or maybe I should just forget about-"
"Stop, okay, my bad. So, what's my reward?"
"I'll cooperate with you."
"...Really?"
"I give you my word."
I couldn't call this the best scenario because of my house, but with Queen on my side I felt as if everything was right on track.
"Well then, I look forward to working with you, Qu-"
I stretched out my hand for a handshake but Queen held up her palm instead.
"Lia, I'll allow you to call me that."
Though not everything, I was capable of seeing her status so I already knew Queen's real name, but hearing it from the person herself made it feel special.
"Got it, Lia. You can call me Elios."
"Oh? That's quite the name you have there."
"...Well, I guess. But is it really that impressive?"
My name certainly had quite a few legends associated with it, but I didn't expect her to think much of it. After all, wasn't it normal to be named after someone famous?
"For anyone else I would say no, but it's your name so I have to wonder if you plan on living up to it."
"Who knows."
One of the most famous legends associated with my name referenced one of the most historic revolutions in this world's history. An event that involved all races, even demons. However, I had no such ambitions. As long as I could have my peace, nothing else mattered.
With Lia on my side, the road ahead was no longer as blurry. But it wasn't as if we decided everything on the spot.
Both Lia and I decided to discuss how we would work together moving forward for another time, and focused on the problem in front of us.
My conference room had been destroyed but by placing a polished table and a pair of well-sculpted chairs in the front of the throne, we made an impromptu setting. With a full view of the purple sky too.
"So you stole his, soul?"
"Yes."
"Huh? You meant that literally didn't you?"
"? Of course I did. Why would I joke about something like that?"
"Yeah, I thought so."
As Lia held her head and sighed, I wondered if I had said something wrong but I couldn't figure out what it was.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Hmm, well not exactly. As your equal I am glad to be trusted by you, but do you realize how frightening what you just said is?"
"Frightening? Why?"
"Because demons don't go around ripping out the souls of their enemies."
"That's, true. But isn't it normal for demons to do worse things than that?"
I hated looking ignorant before someone who would be my partner-in-crime, but it was better than hiding my ignorance and having it blow up later.
"You're not wrong, but try to imagine this. You're a demon who's rather confident in his strength, and one day you meet this guy who's also strong and you want to be friends with him. How would you feel if that guy told you he could erase every memory of you from the world?"
"That, would be kind of creepy."
"Exactly, even if you trust him and know he won't do it, you can't help but have the thought in the back of your mind."
"I see. So you're saying I should keep it a secret that I can remove souls."
"Correct. And any other abnormal abilities. You can still tell me though of course."
"Hahaha... I'll keep it in mind. Anyways, what should I do about the skeleton faction?"
With an awkward laugh, I tried to go back to our original topic. If she was persistent then I would have no choice but to follow her lead, but luckily Lia didn't make things difficult for me.
"Let's see. The fact that they sent Sir Dain here means that the majority of them are in on this. I'll try to find some more information but for now it would be best to make it seem as if he's still here. Fortunately, this place doesn't get many visitors so it shouldn't be too hard. Unless they have some hidden means of watching us."
"That would be a major nuisance, but if so then the secret would already be out. I should be able to make a copy of the death knight before long, so even if a colleague of it comes they wouldn't be able to tell the difference."
"Such a good copy... I see, it seems I certainly won't be bored around you."
Once again, I didn't understand what she was trying to say but this time I just took it as a compliment.