Having returned to his father's office, Tom Stone was bringing some good news, hoping to bring a smile to his father's face. As he was always stuck in his office, having to deal with endless paperwork for Obelisk, the guild, the son was looking forward to maybe easing up the pressure on the guild master.
"Greetings, guild master! The board has accepted my proposal to attempt to recruit Sophie Red, so I will do my best to start a conversation with her during her break from the academy."
Not surprised that the greedy board members would accept, Leonardo just looked at his son with a tired expression, making the somewhat noticeable wrinkles deepen, "Tom, for the love of Theia, stop calling me guild master when we are alone. And no, I do not want you to call me dad."
Pondering for a moment, the [A]-rank hunter finally got his answer, "Alright, daddy!"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Tom! That has to be on purpose!"
****
[Ezral's Pov]
"I can't believe he just left like that..."
Even if I knew what our relationship looked like, I still couldn't help but be disappointed that the human just left without a word. Suddenly, the room that I had spent almost a full year in felt so incredibly large.
Taking a step forward, I landed in front of the armchair that James had claimed as his own, the one he sat in while spouting stupid words while his mind was unreadable. The mask wasn't what was hiding him from the world, it was the mouth that never let anyone get close.
So, I sat down, thinking that I might be able to see things from his perspective, the perspective of someone who had nowhere to go and no home to return to. Somehow, a lot had changed since I met him, with the biggest one being an internal conflict inside of me.
'He didn't even leave a scent...'
No matter how much I strained my nose, I couldn't smell the smell that I had gotten used to. Or at least the smell that I should have gotten used to. 'Did he even carry a scent?'
Letting go of my silly thoughts, I took a moment to keep analyzing my inner self, and what kind of emotions he had conjured during his stay. Although I still despised humans and the allied races, I felt like a hypocrite when I could accept one of their kind. Because if I could accept one, what was in the way of me accepting more?
I could barely even remember how my hatred for the beastmen, elves, and humans started, as many hundreds of years had already passed.
On Primordia, we were taught from a young age that the allied races were the enemies and that they were the reason why we had to live in such a desolate, dead world.
'But is that really the case? Do we have to eliminate them to get a chance to live on Tella? Do we truly have to fight?'
However, my thoughts in themselves were blasphemous, as it would mean that I didn't trust the words of our lord.
'My lord and James... Is there no way for me to have both?'
"Haa... Let's just wait and see what happens with that princess then. Maybe she will return to hear more about the deal."
If it weren't for the fact that the conversion had to be done with consent, I would have already injected my blood into her when I saw her in the garden.
Now, I had no choice but to wait.
"Hmm...? Wait a minute... If she gets converted to a demon, and James doesn't have any reason not to be with her... What happens to me?"
****
[Arthur's Pov]
'Finally home...'
Throwing myself on the bed in my apartment, I felt like my head would explode because of all the thoughts that spun inside.
For the first time in a long time, I had a chance to be alone, a chance to try and make sense of everything that has happened.
'He is still so far away...'
It was frustrating to think how I had gotten toyed with by James, how he hadn't even had to fight me for real to defeat me.
Just like when he attended the academy, it was like he knew everything about everything, and because of this, everything was in his control.
I had trained hard, hard enough to make a lot of people scared for my health, and even though I was now close to breaking through to [C+]-rank, I was still not close to him.
'Is he already [A]-rank? But how is that possible? Did he actually sell his soul for power?'
Taking a breath, I let out some of my frustrations through my airways, "Haaa... I'm not sure if it even matters..."
What would be his role in the upcoming war? Would he even be a part, or would he merely be a spectator? This was the question that would ultimately determine my future relationship with him. Would he be an ally or an enemy? That, I did not know.
At this point, I was not sure that it even mattered what he was to me, as in reality, he was an enemy of Mensch, which would automatically make me inclined to be his antagonist as well. It was pretty sad how little control we had over the situation as a whole, with most of it being predetermined based on past events.
However, the worst part was seeing Sophie's pained face when she realized that she did not live in the same world as him anymore. I was not a man close to tears, but seeing her face warp with torment was heartbreaking.
Still, it was a good thing that she finally understood what the dynamic between her and James now was; They were enemies, no matter what had happened previously.
For someone so strong, my girlfriend was a lot more naïve than one would assume, a pretty big contrast when compared to how she carried herself in battle. Hopefully, this would be her chance to move on, to start living her own life instead of trying to fix his.
*Knock! Knock!*
'Hmm?'
Opening the door, I was surprised to see a face that I can't recall had ever come to my apartment before. No, I was sure that he never had come for a visit before.
"We need to talk."
When I heard the words coming from Sebastian, I instantly had a feeling that I knew what this would be about, as he most likely had the same kind of meeting as I did with the monster called James.
****
[Third person Pov]
Yet another meeting amongst gods had begun, a meeting that had been imminent as the end of the year was quickly approaching and the divine decree was still in play.
Standing in front of the big table, there were now only five gods of all the ones who had been invited, five gods that Theia thought would be necessary for the allied races to win the upcoming war.
"Thank you for coming. Now, let's now waste any time and get to the matter at hand. Have you all chosen an apostle?"
Looking around the room, Theia looked at the cast that had accepted her invitation to the upcoming play, five gods with various areas of expertise that would be immensely useful in the future.
Jack Frost, the god of winter and ice, Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine, Prometheus, the god of fire, Artemis the god of hunting and Hecate, the god of witchcraft. All the other ones had chosen to take the punishment, to get part of their divinity sapped in order to not have to appoint an apostle.
It wasn't all too much of a surprise for the ruling god, as the punishment would often be less severe than appointing an apostle that didn't manage to survive for long enough to provide divine energy to the god. However, that did not mean she wasn't disappointed.
Taking the lead to represent his siblings, Prometheus spoke with clarity, "That we have. Though it had to be said that whilst we won't deny your decree, we all still carry the opinion that this might be the action of a fool."
Once again, she was not surprised by his words, she herself was still thinking that she might be rushing too much.
Still, when taking into account that the demons already had a firm grasp on one of the three nations (although it was hard to call Kurat a sovereign state), she didn't think she was making a mistake.
Letting on a small smile, she didn't refuse his words, "It might be so, Prometheus, but when we might lose a part of our power, all our children might lose their lives."
In the end, there was no god that could refute what she was saying. After all, war was coming, and neither of them could predict when.