Michael went back to their camp after resurrecting the former sword master of the empire who is now Dario.
"You guys will be staying here in the mountain range. I will be going on my own and go back after a week"
All of them stop eating.
"What do you mean, master?"
"Honestly, you guys are still weak so you still need to improve yourselves. With that in mind I won't be taking any of you with me to the Artoreseseo. If you have any complaints, beat me first"
Silent fell.
Michael's current strength is enough for him to beat all of them, Udo included, by himself. Even if they were to team up no matter how many times they try to they won't be able to win against their master. He is just that powerful.
-Aren't you being to harsh on them, master?
-Udo, if I pamper them they won't even be able to handle the enemy in the future. They must be able to at least win against a demon lord in a one on one.
-They may have talent but it would be exaggerating you expect them to be able to win against a demon lord, don't you think so?
-That is why I pick them. They will win, after all I personally pick them. I won't bother bringing extra baggage with me.
-I understand.
"Tomorrow there will be a guy who will be tagging along with you guys. His name is Dario so make sure to open up to him even if he is a bit... rowdy"
The four of them lined up and bowed to their master.
"We wish you good luck on your journey! Master!" They said in unison.
At least they have matured now.
"Take this with you" I gave them a staff with an orb, "This staff is a magic item I created that can store soul energy. When you kill a monster be sure to put this the orb on top of the carcass so it will automatically absorb the souls of the monsters that you kill"
It doesn't store any soul energy though. It is connected to my
"Be careful on using it, okay. It took me more than a month creating it"
"Understood!"
After packing up, Michael left for the dark elven kingdom.
...
Now that I am alone picking up the pace should be nice. Those guys won't be able to withstand the pressure anyway.
With his mana, he speed up to the point he reach 350 kilometers per hour. After modifying the car it can now use mana as fuel. With the gold threads acting as veins to effectively control the car the usage of mana and aura is half than what is needed.
"The only things that are separating the Eliahiree kingdom and the Artoreseseo kingdom is the soaring mountain range which is filled with monsters that flies and the bull forest"
"Master, what is the bull forest?"
"Kaota?"
Kaota who was inside my ring spoke.
I answered his question, "The bull forest is a forest with minotours. A forest infested with tasty minotours which became the hunting grounds for the dark elves"
"Don't dark elves not like meat?"
"They sell it. The same thing for the forest elves. They sell the meat they get from the soaring mountain range for gold"
It would be a waste not to and if they let the monsters' population to rise, both elven kingdoms will be put in great danger which is why they occasionally hunt there.
Should I perhaps sign a contract with the forest elves about 'that'? Maybe I'll do that in the near future.
"Okay. I, the hero, order you Michael Santiago to go to Artoreseseo and challenge the fairy queen Ferowhena Artoreseseo"
"Master, why are you ordering yourself?"
"Nothing. This is something I need to do. Go back inside the ring, I will pick up the pace even more"
"Understood"
The demon cat obediently went back and Michael speed things up.
...
With only three hours, Michael have already reach the capital of Artoreseseo which would normally take two months on foot from where he was.
Unlike Eliahiree, the fairy queen there knew about the arrival of Michael which is why his group was welcomed with open arms. But this time was different. He barged in and appeared in front of the royal palace of Artoreseseo without any notice whatsoever.
"State your business, human!" One of the royal guards said.
They are acting all grumpy but they have smiles on their faces. As I thought, the dark elves are a lively bunch.
With their desire to fight, they can't hide their thoughts in front of Michael.
A girl came out.
"I am the first princess, princess Feremedena Artoreseseo. What brings you here, unannounced?"
Seeing that she can hold herself back from smiling, she seems to be more level headed than the rest. As expected from royals.
"I sincerely apologize for my rudeness. My name is Michael Santiago, an aide of the hero Lucas and an apostle sent by the Goddess of Hunt to do a mission. I ask to speak with the fairy queen"
The dark elves were surprise to hear my words. Just like the forest elves, they find it hard to believe that a human was sent by the goddess they worship.
I showed them my mark.
"In the name of the Goddess that I follow, I swear that what I just said wasn't lie"
The princess bit her lip and think things again after seeing Michael's mark.
"You may come in" The princess said.
"But princess Feromedena, we do not know what his plans are" One of the guards said.
"Did you not heard what he said. He just swore an oath that the words he said was not a lie, not to mention do you not feel the amount of spirits with him?!"
Princess Feromedena's main reason why she trusted the man before her was because of his promise just now and the spirits with him.
"Please come inside, we will treat you to the best of our abilities. However, as we do not know who you are we will be placing some guards to watch over you. Is that acceptable, Sir Michael?"
"It is. Thank you very much for the quick judgment, princess"
Michael entered the palace with four dark high elves as his companions to watch over him for the time being.
Shortly after entering a room that he was invited to, a dark elf came bursting into the room, laughing maniacally.
"An apostle came?!" The man shouted.
"Prince Feremin, please wait outside. No one is allowed to enter this room" One of the dark high elves said.
A prince... also, their names sure are unique in some way. Do all royals from this kingdom have 'Fere' in their names?
"Sir. Michael, correct? I challenge you to a friendly match!"
The high elves who were accompanying Michael tried to stop the prince.
I stood up and everyone looked at me.
"Before you challenge someone, it is common courtesy to introduce yourself first before issuing the challenge to that person. If you go out and do it again I will think about it"
"W-what?! Prince Feremin is the second prince in this kingdom! What makes you have the right to tell him what to do?!"
The four high elves glared at Michael.
"Sure!" The prince replied.
The four high elves were taken aback as the prince go out and close the door.
The prince open the door.
"I am prince Feremin Artoreseseo, second prince of the Artoreseseo kingdom. I challenge you Sir Michael into a friendly match! Do you accept?!"
The high elves were shock to see that their prince obediently followed what the human said. He may be an apostle but he was still in their kingdom. To say such things, to a member of the royal family at that and the prince's actions just made the high elves frozen in place.
"I accept. Do you wish to do it now? I believe we would need a proper place where we should do it"
"That is alright! I already have the best place in mind, follow me"
I followed the prince while the other four high elves who were in charge of observing me for the time being didn't said anything.
The prince opened a freakishly huge door.
"Welcome to the training grounds that is only reserved for royals"
A training room which is designated for the use of the royal family left the other four high elves in awe.
"This is amazing"
Honestly, it's not surprising at all. The forest elves also had the same size of training grounds just like this. The only difference is the size of the door.
The prince waved his hands and called for the two individuals sitting on the bench.
The two went towards us.
"I introduce you to my siblings!"
"My name is Feremon Artoreseseo, third prince of the Artoreseseo kingdom!"
"My name is Ferenena Artoreseseo, third princess of the Artoreseseo kingdom"
They introduced themselves politely unlike a certain royal.
So many fairies. Also, are they by any chance triplets? I can't tell since all elves, high elves, and fairies have almost the exact same face if you disregard their hair. But the three look even more identical than the rest.
Michael slightly bowed.
"I am Michael Santiago. An aide of the hero Lucas"
The two princes were jumping up and down from excitement while the princess examine me head to toe.
"May I know what a man like you is doing here in the training grounds which only royals are allowed to enter?"
"I am here because prince Feremin challenge me. The four dark elves behind were ordered by the first princess to watch my every move"
She look at the four behind me and glance to the two prince who are still jumping up and down.
"I understand. Then I shall be the referee for this match"
"Thank you very much"
We got into our positions.
"I am a magic swordsman. What do you do?"
Why did he casually said his class?
I look towards the princess with a confuse expression and she sighed, with a face saying that "Please forgive my idiotic brother"
This is a hassle.
"I am a shaman"
The four dark high elves and prince Feremon stayed on the sidelines to watch our match.
"This match is a friendly one at that. If any of you use any lethal spells or techniques will result to that person's disqualification. Without further ado... let the match begin!"
The princess signaled and the match started.
"Wind blades"
The prince slash the air and sickle-like blades rush forth to Michael.
"Thousand serpentine wall"
The water snaked wall block the wind blade from the prince.
"Then, what about this. Grand magic: Howling tempest"
Dozens of strong wind blades headed to Michael with great speed.
"Coiling snake"
A giant snake-like water covered Michael and protected him from the barrage of wind blades made by the prince.
He deliberately made the grand magic's output to be weaker than what it was supposed to be so it would still be allowed to use it. Still I am amaze that the floor and the walls were left unscathed.
"Is that all?" I ask.
He said that he specialize in using a sword and magic, base in Loki he wasn't lying as well. So why not use it?
Time to see what the dark elves are capable of.
"Phantom world: Space alteration"
With this, Michael had complete control over the whole space within the training grounds. The gravity increased by ten, forcefully making the prince's knees to hit the floor.
Naturally, the high elves and the fairies were surprise that Michael was controlling the space around them without mana. Their first time seeing a human to control space without the use of mana made them speechless, except for one.
The princess stood where she stand, silently. Observing the events that are unfolding right before her eyes, her expression did not change as she focuses on figuring out how the apostle right in front of her was able to pull of such a feat.
A minute have passed and the princess made her mind.
"The winner is Sir. Michael"
Michael released the effects of phantom world and shake hands with the prince.
"That was amazing! It's been a long time since I warmed up like that"
Warmed up? He wasn't even using a quarter of what he is capable of and he says that. How cheeky of him.
"Me too! Me too! I also want to fight with him!" The other prince shouted.
The four high elves desperately tried stop the prince but was stop when the princess raise her hand.
"Sir. Michael will be going to a room now to rest. May I remind you that he is our guest and that you are a royal, so act befitting for a royal"
The prince went silent and sobbed from the icy glare from his sister.
"I shall accompany you myself" The princess turn to the four high elves, "The four of you shall take care of my brothers as I go out for a while. This is an order so I assume that none of you will object"
The four nodded nervously.
...
I followed the lead of the princess. She open a door and inside was a room similar to the one I had back in Eliahiree.
"For now please stay in this room. We shall inform you if any details regarding your stay comes up"
"Thank you"
I close the door and went to bed to continue my soul reconstruction.
As Michael was busy reconstructing a soul, a call came in.
-Master.
-Nrowe, what is it?
-The Catros kingdom have declared war to the Astel kingdom.
-The reason is?
-They want to occupy the land of Astel. So to speak, they want to conquer the entirety of the northern continent. Their invasion will start a month from now.
By that time 'some of it' should be finish already.
-Did Maximos verified this?
-Yes.
Knowing Max he should have done a good job which makes Nrowe's words to be more believable.
The king of Catros is greedy but he wouldn't go so far unless he is sure of the chances of success.
-Make sure to take lead then. Have Maximos to take out any dangerous looking guys so the casualties from our side won't be big. You take command on how to win against them without anyone knowing. Also, make the shadow squad to see if there are any third parties involve in this.
-Understood! I shall execute this task perfectly.
The call ended.
The king of Catros may have sent someone to investigate both the Astel and Desafit to scale their military might. After determining their chances of success he then declared war to Astel for their own gain.
This is what I can think of right now, unless there was a third party. If there were any the situation would be different.
Someone leaked information about something that holds value within the Astel or Desafit to the king of Catros. As for their goal, I'd say it is either for destruction of the northern continent or stopping the production of the mining of the magic stones since the Astel is the third country that supplies the world with inferior and low grade magic stones which are pretty much needed for everyone. As for why they are doing it in the northern continent if that was their goal, it would be because there are only a few high ranking mages there in comparison to the other kingdoms.
Nevertheless, if my underlings take care of it nothing major will happen to the kingdom of Astel. There is a vampire, a high rank spirit, a necromancer with the holy attribute, a mid tier holy knight and a member from the seven kings. If the third party really exist and happens to have the power to overwhelm all of them I will need to personally step up then.
Another call came in.
-Master!
-Yes, why do you sound so worried Nunu?
-A huge circle which is so dense of negative mana appeared here in between the soaring mountains and the bull forest. I felt something was amiss earlier and we found this gate. According to Layla, an outbreak will happen.
So the big event that will happen that Aira said is the outbreak, huh.
-How big is that circle?
-About fifty meters in diameter, master.
The outbreak from back then was only two meters and this time its a fifty meter one? And since it appeared right from the middle, the monster from the soaring mountain range and the bull forest will be affected by this.
-For now observe it from a distance, call me immediately if there are any changes. Be prepared for the outbreak.
-Understood!
The call ended.
If the outbreak does affect both the soaring mountain range and the bull forest, and taking the size into consideration, the entirety of the two elven kingdoms will be in great danger.
With my negative mana in store, I can probably make the size grow bigger about twice, making it a hundred meter in diameter.
This will probably bring chaos over the two kingdoms but that's not my problem anymore. If I can make a dangerous situation and force the two kingdoms to realize that they need to help each other, creating mayhem won't be a problem.
Another call came.
What is up with them calling me almost at the same time?
-Master.
-What is it, Inosi.
-The sirens helped me on doing the task the you have given me. Because of that 'Project: H' is a success and is now complete.
That's amazing. Finally some good news.
-Estimating, what do you think would be the production rate?
-We can create a thousand artificial bodies per day.
Wow, that's more than I thought.
-That's great, keep up the good work.
-I thank you for your praise, master.
The call ended.
After the call ended, Michael spend the next eight hours to form a plan. Meticulously taking into account all the variables he could think of to predict the future with the help of his instinct.
His instinct which is different from the beast men.
Beast men's instincts are similar to that of an animal. Heightened senses, sensitivity towards thoughts of others, and nimble reflexes.
On the other hand, Michael's instinct is more similar to clairvoyance. Intuition, sharp perception, and unimaginable level of control.
Due to this trait he was able to deduce the upcoming events in the next two months into four main scenarios regarding the situation in the elven kingdoms and the war that will happen a month from now between the kingdom of Catros and Astel.
Knock, knock, knock.
I was too immerse in my work that I didn't even felt anyone in front of my room. I have to stop with these bad habits of mine.
As I go to the door, I use my aura to hide all the documents scattered in my bed.
I open the door and saw the first princess of Artoreseseo, Feremedena Artoreseseo.
What is she doing here in the middle of the night?
"Is there something I can help with?" I ask.
"May I come in?"
"Sure"
I gestured her to come inside.
"I am sorry for disturbing you at such a time"
"No need. I wasn't busy or anything"
The princess look around before sitting.
"I would like to talk about the reason why you are here. The fairy queen, my mother, would like to have a talk with you tomorrow. However, i would like to know why you are here myself as I was the one who let you in the first place"
So she's saying that I am apparently indebted to her since she was the one who gave the permission for me to enter. And since she gave permission for my entry she would also be the one responsible for everything that I do, be it negative or positive, it will affect her.
What a sly fox.
"My reason here is because there is someone who is very powerful who is planning to bring chaos to the two elven kingdoms. And I was sent here by the hero Lucas to stop it from happening. At the same time, I was given a quest by the Goddess of Hunt to also stop it.
Forgive me but these are the only thing that I can tell"
[The Gods are impress to the ridiculous statement you have said]
That's why I was ordering myself before I came here for insurance.
"I see" She nodded, "Then, as price for asking such a question to you Sir. Michael, if you have anything you want please ask away"
Now she's saying that I can ask anything I want? There is no need to ponder about such things if the answer is already so obvious.
"May I have a fresh leaf as well as a branch from Yggdrasil?"
The princess raise her brows. Her face with a blank expression turn into a face which I can't see anymore from the blood lust coming from her.
There are two world trees that serves as the lungs of the this world. The one from the forest elves and the one from the dark elves. Inside the huge tree which serves as their palace, a hidden domain where only fairies are allowed to enter.
In reality, the two world trees are only five meters in height but each one possess astronomical level of mana. Just like how the magic tower serves as an outside battery for the tower master, the world trees give endless supply of mana to the fairy queens so that they can maintain order in their kingdoms.
If either of the two world tree is gone, all elves, high elves and fairies in these two kingdoms will die. They will die since they will lose the blessing they received from nature, they will also be abandon by the goddess they worship.
With all these things in mind its no wonder she'd be mad.
"And what do you need it for?"
All the furniture started to tremble as if there is an earthquake.
"To form a contract with a spirit of nature"
"Why do you need to form a contract with the spirit of nature?"
"Because I will be needing it to stop unnecessary wars and prevent countless deaths for the upcoming battles in the near future. It is my duty to do so"
Well, I will probably the one who will be the main reason why those wars will begin anyway.
"What if I kill you right here, right now then?"
Ugh, so many questions.
"Abyssal world: Null"
Michael limited the range of the special skill only within the room. Now that the mana is gone, Michael was able to see the princess' face.
"As I said, I am planning to use it to stop unnecessary wars and prevent countless deaths. You ask me and I simply answered it. Nothing more, nothing less. That is all"
We stared back at each other for a while and ended when the princess sighed.
"I will do my best to do so. But, I will only give you a single leaf if you win against the fairy queen tomorrow"
She stood up.
"That is more than enough for me"
She walk out the room as she said her goodbye.