Momonga read the latest update on the Gelmud situation as Demiurge stood in front of his office table. If not for the Ancient One's obsession with politics, and the decent amount of books on the topic left in the library by him before he departed from the game, Momonga would have no clue about how to deal with the situation.
"You think three to four different organizations are observing us and Gelmud's forces?"
"That is my best assessment considering their movements. In this assessment, I have not included the possibility of agents that the shadow demons could not detect, which are likely also present near our borders." Demiurge said as he fixed his glasses.
'We cannot appear weak, but neither overly aggressive. Politics is such a mess, but I better put to use what I have learned. I can't rely on Albedo's and Demiurge's plans all the time.'
"Then we can safely assume that they are watching out for our reaction. Gelmud's letter of apology about the misunderstanding with the dryads was likely sent to other nations as well, to make it appear like he was not the aggressor and didn't know about how they were under our protection." Momonga said while tapping two fingers on the table.
"There may be another force standing behind this majin, as most of his moves don't make logical sense… and almost seem to be using him to push us into showing our cards." Demiurge said and then stared at Momonga expectantly.
'He thinks I already thought of that again. Oh well, I better play along.' "I see you considered this possibility as well. Good job. My trust in you has not been misplaced."
"You are giving me too much credit, my Lord." The demon said with a happy smile.
"I think that, in the current situation, it will be best to wait until Gelmud's inevitable attack to show him what Nazarick is capable of, don't you agree?"
Momonga asked, waiting for Demiurge's reaction. 'I hope it is not a stupid idea.'
"It is an excellent plan, my Lord. We, of course, shall remove Nazarick's veil of darkness for all the foreign agents to witness our might, but avoid showing any of our true trump cards, resorting to using only a few of the floor guardians. Gelmud's direct attack would give us all the reason to retaliate and take over his territories on the pretense that he was the belligerent one, and that we were only protecting our people." Demiurge laid out his plan with a smug expression.
"I see you understand the plan. Can I entrust you with the full preparations?" Momonga asked as he put away the report.
"Of course, my Lord. I will not let you down." Demiurge said with a bow.
Just as he departed, Albedo came in with a cup of coffee and walked up to him with her usual gentle smile.
'Did I order one by accident?'
"My Lord, I bought you a fresh and hot cup." She said as she stopped just beside him and leaned down to replace the half-empty cup on the table.
For some weird reason, Albedo had started doing it rather often and had been entering his office at least twenty times a day, unlike before when she only came when explicitly called for or when delivering daily reports.
She had also started to wear different outfits from her usual white dress, with some of them being borderline inappropriate, especially when she leaned down like that.
Pero had mentioned that she might be interested in him, but Albedo was his assistant, and left in his care by Tabula since he was not around anymore and it was very unlikely that he would ever show up, given the current circumstance.
'Maybe Pero is right and she is acting like this because she is interested? He does know these things better than me. But what if she wants attention just like Shalltear wants to be near Pero, and the twins are with Buku every chance they have? I could ruin everything by assuming what simply is not true. She is a succubus after all and maybe it is the only way she can show that she craves affection, even if it's innocent in nature.'
"Thank you, Albedo." Momonga said, feeling her wing brushing against his back. Even without any activation of the energy body, he felt as if his non-existing heartbeat just sped up.
"I hope it will be to your liking, Lord Momonga. I made it myself." Albedo said as she straightened out and looked at him expectantly.
'This can't be another Shion situation. Albedo should know how to make beverages and cook. Tabula wrote in her flavor text that she would excel at all household activities.' he convinced himself and took a small sip.
"This coffee tastes great." Momonga said and took another, larger sip to emphasize his statement.
"Thank you, Lord Momonga." Albedo responded with a radiant smile and remained by his side.
"Is there anything else?" He asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"No…" Albedo started, seemingly wanting to say something more but then just bowed and left.
'I must figure out how to approach her, and do it fast before this goes out of hand.'
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Fuze stood in his office, reading one of the two letters the trio had delivered from Tempest as they sat on the sofa. The second one was meant for the kingdom of Blumund, and Fuze intended to personally deliver it to Baron Velyard, who served as one of the King's ministers.
'The monster nation agrees to a peaceful coexistence and promises to keep all the monsters in their territories in check, but only if humans show no hostility towards them.'
"I see my trust in you three was not misplaced. Good job." Fuze reluctantly said. The mere act of praising the trio simply rubbed him the wrong way, as the whining could start at any moment like it usually did, either about them having too much work or that they needed more money. Again. "What did you see while you were there? Skip no detail."
"There were a lot of strong monsters. And I mean a lot of them. The worst were the two demons serving the Supreme Overlord." Kaval started first.
"A lot is not a precise number. How many, what types?"
"They didn't exactly give us a list, but I saw at least a dozen different ogres who, if I have to guess, were a higher form than regular ones, maybe even kijin. Orcs and hobgoblins were clearly in the thousands." Eren said.
"And the leaders. How strong could they be?"
"Likely special A, or maybe even higher." Eren continued and then added with a somber tone. "One of them, Bukubukuchagama Tempest, knew the Conqueror of Flames."
'So that's why she lied to me! She likely wanted to protect her monster friends from the guild. Wait a minute, did Eren just say, knew?'
"What do you mean, knew?" Fuze asked with his otherwise calm voice showing a sign of worry.
"According to her, Shizue Izawa passed away from old age while in Tempest. I can't confirm if it's true, but she sounded sad about it. Oh, and Lady Buku looked almost like Shizue so I guess they shared some sort of bond."
"Anything else of note?" Fuze continued questioning as he resumed a neutral tone to hide his inner turmoil at the grim news. 'Could it be that Tempest was her destination and she decided to die there? But why? What sort of place is this monster nation? Could their leaders be offworlders? If only you weren't as secretive my old friend.'
"They treated us nicely and Tempest's capital was no different than any human city, other than being only populated by monsters." Eren said and then added with a dreamy tone. "And the food and drinks there… Best in the whole continent."
'So monsters who act like humans. I will need to look in archives to see if there is a precedent of offworlders reborn as monsters. If such a possibility exists… Could there be a case that adventurers could have killed a monster that, by all means, was just as human as them? Would an offworlder reborn as a monster even be a human in mind anymore?' Fuze couldn't help but think about the implications of such a possibility.
"You may go. I will put you all on payroll, and ask you to remain in the city for now, in case we need to send another correspondence. And I want a written report with every tiny detail you can remember, no matter how insignificant." He finally said.
"So… we are getting paid for sitting around?" Kaval asked suspiciously, clearly not believing his luck.
"The situation with Tempest is complicated and you three could serve as delivery crew until a more permanent communication method is established. If you have any problems with that…"
"No!" Eren practically screamed. "We have no problems. We accept."
"Hey, I am the leader!" Kaval protested. "But yes, we accept."
"Good. Go take your payment from the clerk and don't leave the city until further notice." Fuze said with a relieved sigh. 'I figured they would be happy to sit on their asses and get paid for it, but for now, they are our only link to Tempest, and the money is well spent keeping that link.'
Once the trio was out on the street, Kaval whispered to Eren. "Don't you think you should contact your father about the situation?"
"He will demand from me to come home and accept my responsibilities as a noble." Eren hissed.
"I'm serious." Kaval said. "We can't just ignore a new nation appearing and not reporting back."
"I know. I will send him a message to inform the Empress about what is going on in Jura. But if I end up being an official envoy, I am dragging both of you down with me!" Eren said in a threatening voice before adding with a scowl on her face. "Why can't Dad just let me live a little? It's always 'responsibility this' or 'danger that'!"
"The place was not that bad and the goblinas were fine too. The pair on that tall one…" Gido said absentmindedly and barely managed to dodge the staff aimed at his face.
"I don't know why I'm even putting up with you two!" Eren fumed.
"Come on. We could use some time off, right? Fuze has been sending us on missions nonstop for over a year. Just relaxing in Tempest for a few days was a nice change." Kaval said.
"Fine!" Eren admitted defeat. "But if dad decides to breathe down my neck again, I am ditching you two with him and running off."
"Hey, put some trust in us. We will smuggle you out of his clutches if that happens." Kaval said with a laugh. "Now who's hungry? I could go for a mug of beer and tender pork ribs right now."
As always, distracting Eren with food worked like a charm and she practically dragged both him and Gido to their favorite tavern.
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Zegion's massive halberd clashed with his teacher's equally impressive weapon again and again. His new body was powerful, but he could not even compare to the might of Cocytus, who could defeat him within seconds.
If not for the mighty servant of Lord Momonga, he would have failed to protect his queen and died himself. His old duty was more of a formality now as Apito was no longer in danger within Tempest, but he was pushing himself to the very limits anyway. The duty to protect her was not gone and would never be forgotten.
There also was a need to repay the trust his Lord put in him by growing in power and being ready to stand up for his new home.
A particularly hard hit made him stagger and drop to one knee in exhaustion.
"TAKE A SHORT REST!" Cocytus said in a tone that left no room for argument.
"Teacher. I can still fight!" He protested anyway.
"YOU CAN BARELY STAND! PUSHING YOURSELF TOO FAR WILL DO YOU NO GOOD. TAKE A REST AND THEN WE WILL CONTINUE."
"As you command, Lord Cocytus." He reluctantly said with a tired sigh, and slowly walked out of the arena.
"You are pushing yourself too hard." A familiar, gentle voice said.
"My Queen!" He looked up to see Apito descending with a box in her hand.
"Let's go. You need to drink and eat." She buzzed around him.
"My Queen, you do not need to take precious time out of your busy schedule for one such as me." Zegion said, bowing his head.
"I told you to call me Apito, and drop the title! Besides I can see clear as day that you are overworking yourself again!" She said sternly and grabbed his hand to drag him outside the arena. They stopped at a large willow which was their usual dining spot.
Zegion sat down cross-legged in his usual spot and let out yet another tired sigh. 'Maybe she is right and I am pushing myself too hard? But what if I'm not strong enough the next time? I could fail her, and fail Lord Momonga.'
The petite wasp, instead of choosing the spot near him, sat down on his lap and opened the box which was filled with freshly cooked meat.
"My Qh- Apito!"
"Huh? Something wrong?" She asked innocently as she wiggled in.
"No." He said, accepting a piece of meat and chewing on it. She had made her intentions rather clear, and he was not about to deny neither to her or to himself how much he wished for this exact moment to happen.
Maybe it was his previous position that prevented him from expressing his feelings, or the former, larger physiological difference, but now those obstacles are gone.
He put one of his massive hands around her tiny waist as she leaned back and enjoyed the meal she had prepared for him.
The warm sun and the exhaustion made him sleepy rather fast, and he slowly dozed off with Apito still leaning against him.
He was woken from his dreamless sleep with a gentle nudge.
"It's time for me to go." Apito said as Zegion opened his eyes and was greeted by her smile. "We can have dinner after your training is over."
"I would love that." He sleepily responded and slowly stood up. The short nap was just what he needed. Apito flashed him another smile before flying off.
With renewed determination, he returned to the arena and picked up his weapon again. Lord Cocytus was busy with another opponent for the moment, but that didn't mean he couldn't practice the moves on his own for a while.
As his teacher often said; it is better to practice one move ten thousand times than ten thousand moves once.
Proofreading by I AM STRING CUTTER, placid_void, Sad_Smiles, Somnium Hypnos, and kamijazz.