"Collecting your fragmented consciousness? And that helps me how?"
"Well, if you're really planning to use me as your weapon, then might as well make it the best right?"
"Eh, that's a stupidly bad attempt at tempting me there huh? How old do you think I am? 5?"
"No really, if you think that first shot was good, how much better would it be if I was in my fullest form?"
"Nah. I don't think I'll need that kind of unnecessary trouble. The reward doesn't seem to be equal with the hassle that comes with it."
"You're a stubborn human huh… For someone that strong, you're pretty stupid."
"Really? Am I? The stupid version of me would've already agreed with you though."
"Fine, how about this? If my observation is correct and you're not really from this world, hmm… I'd let you ask me any questions you wanted about this world, free of charge! As you know, I'm an existence akin to the beginning of time. I can definitely answer any question that you would throw at me regarding this world." The Ancient Demon Lord proudly offered as he boasted his vast knowledge.
"Eh, that doesn't sound so bad, but I need one more thing though"
"Don't push it human."
"Fine, I was just gonna ask for a treasure or something, but it seems I can only ask questions? Alright then, tell me, where did you keep all your treasures when you were still alive? As somewhat of a bigshot back then I bet you had a whole vault of such things, right?"
A devious grin appeared on Feihren's face.
"…"
"Oh, don't worry. I'll help you gather all your other fragments first before I start gathering your treasures."
"… You're despicable, human... But fine, I don't have a choice it seems."
After a long-winded conversation on which one would help the other, Feihren and the Ancient Demon Lord had come to an agreement. It appears that the demonic essences that they had to collect aren't extremely numerous. There were only around 12 remaining, excluding the one that Feihren already has, for a total of 13.
Feihren had no idea where to begin with in finding these fragmented pieces of consciousness for the demon lord, but it seems that one was actually closer than they had expected. According to this Demonic Carbine demon lord, he had sensed the presence of one of his fragments in the Wolfenstein Kingdom. This explained why he was headed there when he was in possession, well kind of, of the King Ape back then.
Another was in the Ranustin Kingdom. The exact location of it wasn't all that clear, but a faint feeling was definitely pointing in that direction according to this Ancient Demon Lord.
For the one that was in the Wolfenstein Kingdom, Feihren had a rough idea of who probably has it, but as for the one in the Ranustin Kingdom, he had no idea. So for now, he needed to personally venture towards it.
As for the other 10 pieces, the Ancient Demon Lord predicted that the other fragments of consciousness would at least have a clue on their whereabouts.
Feihren thought it over and decided,
"It seems that I should head to Ranustin myself. I have some business that I have to attend to there anyway. It seems that I might have killed some of their scouts back then without noticing, even though they had attacked first. Even so, I killed them thinking that they were from Wolfenstein, so I might as well have a clear conscience."
...
After a few days of Feihren staying in the village, preparing for his eventual departure to Ranustin kingdom, the day has finally arrived.
He had many supplies to carry so he made a hard-polyester bag by using one of the special blueprints. Then he stuffed a few precious metals that he can use as a substitute for currency, some materials for equipment repair, miscellaneous other necessities, food and water enough for a single person to last for weeks in it. Of course, a fully furbished [Carbine of the Demonic Stallion] and a belt-strapped ruby gem containing Samael were naturally required as well. With all this preparation, Feihren was finally able to set off.
After saying goodbye to the village chief, and promising that he would soon be back, everyone sincerely bid them farewell. Feihren had done a lot of good for them within this past month.
...
A week has passed
Feihren has been earnestly traveling within the woodlands past the mountain range that the dwarves called home. The path towards the Ranustin Kingdom seems pretty straightforward, aside from the supposedly hard-to-pass mountain range that now has a huge pit on one side. The only hardship one would meet is the thick woodlands before arriving at the Ranustin Kingdom.
Feihren had been focusing on traveling so much that he had forgotten something he had been meaning to ask his Demonic Carbine for a while now. He really wanted to ask about when the Ancient Demon Lord mentioned him being a 'Messiah'.
As he was about to ask, the Demonic Carbine shushed him and said,
"Can you feel that human? Multiple people are coming this way."
Feihren hadn't felt any presences at all due to him being absorbed in his thoughts, but when he started to focus, he could feel the ground tremble slightly. This was not because of something 'big' that was coming, but because a lot of somethings were walking in their direction.
Feihren immediately climbed up a tall tree to see if he could have a better view of what was coming, but to no avail. The trees were wide, and obscured as far as the eyes could see. Feihren switched to his 2nd, yet most effective, way to do this kind of thing. He activated his [Scan] skill as he saw a hundred, no, almost a thousand dots starting to pop up. Enhancing the skill, Feihren could clearly see these people wearing medieval armor and had a uniform emblem on it.
"Ranustin Kingdom soldiers?"