After Viscount Rose, the meetings with the other three nobles didn't go badly either.
Count Tusk was a black minotaur who acted like a typical muscle-head but he proved that he had the wits of a proper member of elite demon society. The moment we first met, he really liked me for some reason and even now he would still contact me to talk about trivial matters.
Baron Heinz, the gremlin, who had the lowest rank among us even though his strength wasn't lacking, was a practical and logical man that seemed like an intellectual demon. Rather than speak about our reasons for standing up to stop the war, he only wanted to know how Lia and I planned to do it as well as if it was feasible. In a sense you could call him straightforward but since he wore glasses and had a pair of goat horns, I subconsciously felt slightly nervous in front of him because he gave off the same aura as a teacher marking a student's presentation.
Lastly was Earl Rufen who was an orc that acted exactly like the stereotypical stuck-up noble. He was the only one to bring up the fact that I wasn't actually a noble so I had to address him with Lord rather than his noble title.
At first he was only an infuriating prick, but once you got to know him you realized that he was just really particular about social order and etiquette. To be polite, he was old-fashioned.
Fortunately, with the noble manners that I learnt from Lia I was also able to enlist his help.
After meeting these four I had to meet the rest of our potential allies either in groups or over what was basically a video conference but everything science-related was replaced with magic.
Individually the members of this group weren't as valuable as the first four, but there was power in numbers. Unfortunately, not all of them agreed to help though they still signed a magically binding contract to stay silent.
"The Elder Council, huh?"
While looking down from the throne in my rebuilt throne room, I murmured the name that was fearfully uttered by all those who refused to join us. They were nothing more than a group of immortal geezers to me, but for the demons the Elder Council was the supreme authority of Lambda with higher power than the Demon King.
Since the Elder Council was mainly made up of demons who didn't die of old age, the members rarely changed and so their scariness never went down.
We were lucky that there was none, but if there had been any news that the Elder Council as a whole was in support of this war, the amount of support we could have gotten would be far less even if the situation was more dire.
'It would be good if those geezers would stop this farce, but according to Ein's latest report this war might not just be out of selfishness.'
As I contemplated various matters and ironed out the plans going forward, I felt a vibration at my chest. Reaching inside my thin coat I took out a circular object that looked like a thick metal coaster. This was a portable version of that videophone device I used to persuade nobles to join us. This model didn't have caller IDs but I could easily guess who would call at this time.
Though it would be a waste of time, ignoring him would only result in more calls and eventually a visit to my castle so I heaved a sigh and gently squeezed the device.
Almost instantly, a blue hologram of a bull's face appeared. There may have been intelligence in the eyes of the bull, but the scar that was around his left eye emphasized his beastly nature.
"Hahaha! My dear friend, it has been some time."
"It's only been two nights, Count Tusk."
"A night or ten is all the same if you don't look at the sky."
"Well, certainly."
"Oh, and didn't I tell you to just call me William?"
"The last time I called you that I do remember both of us being lectured by your primary wife."
"Oh, hehe, I suppose something like that did happen. Really Seres is just too concerned about etiquette."
He was normally headstrong but as expected of someone who could be his wife, just the slightly awkward expression on his face was proof that she held the reins.
"Well, I believe the Madam is just looking out for you. All she knows is that I'm some noble that popped out of nowhere, it isn't odd for her to wary of me getting too close with you."
Count Tusk briefly nodded in response before putting on a serious expression. However, there was not even a ripple in my heart as I was sure his next words would be the opposite of solemn.
"Elios, why is my daughter so cute?"
'Ah here we go again. This damn doting father.'
"That again? How many times must you ask the same question Count Tusk?"
"But she's just too cute! Yesterday when I was putting her to bed, she grabbed my finger! She's just so precious."
"Yes, yes, your daughter will certainly grow up to be a fine young lady."
"I know right! Sometimes I feel it's a shame that she has to grow up, but I can't wait to see her turn more and more beautiful."
"Certainly. I'm sure she'll be famous for her grace and stunning appearance."
"Of course she will! A girl as cute as her will obviously, be, popular..."
As if struck by a sudden realization, his expression stiffened and then became grave once more.
'Time for part two, huh?'
When he was just being a doting father all I needed to do was agree with him and slip in some compliments, but once he moved into his next stage I would only be able to sit back and listen until he was finished or his wife called him.
"Popular, huh? In other words, there'll be a lot of pests going after her. Pests that would dare come between my daughter and I. Just the thought fills me with anger. How could I ever entrust my darling angel to some pathetic youngster?"
Since I didn't think he would stop any time soon I really wanted to cut this call or something, but even if he wasn't a noble it would obviously be rude to hang up without warning.
Fortunately, as Count Tusk's voice started to increase in volume, there was finally someone that could rescue me.
"Dear husband? Why are you making such a fuss?" asked a dignified voice from Count Tusk's side of this video.
He looked towards the door with fear in his eyes before saying goodbye and hastily cutting off the video call.
"Whew~. It's over now."
I nearly slumped back in my throne, but it still wasn't time to relax as I then heard a knock on the door.
I fixed myself up before allowing the visitor to enter. There weren't many here who would knock on this door so even without using any of my skills I was mostly sure of who it was and what she wanted.
The one who entered through the small gap that she opened herself was Kaili with a rolled-up bundle of paper.
As she came closer, I got off my throne and stood in front of her.
"Have you completed your homework yet?"
Kaili nodded in response while glancing at the materials in her hand. She wasn't as cheeky and cheerful as before, but I liked this slightly shy demeanour she now had.
'This was worth letting her playing along with that brat.'
"Good, begin."
The moment I said 'begin', Kaili dropped to her knees with the paper and spread it out on the dark red carpet that made its way from the door to my throne.
The magic circle was already on the paper and she placed an offering of a small gemstone at the centre of it. If she failed this gemstone would be corrupted and lose its glow, making it useless. Therefore studying this type of magic was really only for the rich.
Once her short preparations were complete, Kaili knelt in front of the magic circle with her eyes closed as if praying. The fact that she was mumbling something as she knelt further supplemented this image.
As Kaili stayed in her praying stance, the magic circle started to release a faint blue light bit by bit. However, the hardest part would be coming up next.
As long as you had enough money anyone could reach this far in summoning magic, but actually summoning something required talent.
Soon after, the magic circle started flashing with light and the frequency of these flashes grew until there seemed to be an explosion of light.
...
When the light had calmed down, there was now the form of a small entity outlined by light green above the magic circle, while the gemstone used as an offering was gone.
Even though my eyes were focused during the process, I didn't know when this being appeared, but it was proof that she had succeeded.
"An elementary sylph, good. With this there's no longer a need for me to oversee your studies. From now on you must work to build on your knowledge, find better offerings and strengthen your will."
"My will?"
Since this was the first time I directly talked about it, Kaili was inevitably confused by my use of the term, 'will'.
"Yes, even more than knowing about your summoning target or the value of your offering, is the strength of your heart. This is especially true when it comes to spirit kings and greater demons. Beings on that level can only be moved by their own curiosity and interest."
I was speaking without any experience since I had never tried to summon entities like that, but it felt good enough for the last piece of advice I could offer her.
"I see. By the way, what should I do with this little one?" she asked while pointing at the elementary sylph who flew around her.
"Keep it. You don't know enough about where it came from to reverse summon it so you might as well get used to having it around."
Without solid knowledge and an image, both spatial and summoning magic couldn't be used freely. This was why I saw little hope in getting back to Earth since I had no idea what its spatial coordinates were.
I didn't want to be reborn there but I thought it would be nice to see the endings of some series I was keeping up with. Still, that was a mission that had to wait for me to settle my current issue.
And while I was steadily making progress on that plan, an incident occurred.
"Elios, help!"