I wet my lips with the wine that they had served. It wasn't really that great, but I didn't expect too much from a country that was still stuck in the Middle Ages in terms of medical practices and technological discoveries. Of course, their tier 0 magic had compensated for their lack of scientific inventions by a lot and besides the greatest wine wasn't made inside a factory. They weren't great because of the machines but because of the grape, the winemaking skills, the terroir-
That being said, wine in this world could easily be classified. The native wine just couldn't hold a candle to the wine I had in my inventory. It wasn't a divine class item, but even Top-class items weren't something easily seen in the New World. Whereas a high-class item would be a grand luxurious experience for them, I wouldn't want to wash my hands with it. I wondered what a storm it would cause if I released some precious wine into the noble folks. Just thinking that they would lose their collective minds over some wine was amusing, to say the least.
Kelart's glances at us could almost be described as nervous as she watched us- or rather me, eat. Her offer to join her ranks, albeit under the table was a pleasant surprise and a step forward I really needed. I had initially been a bit disappointed because of the few nobles gathering at this meeting. In fact, there weren't any nobles at all!
Only the vice-leader - a weird translation for something akin to a regional manager - of Kalinsha's local guild, the guild leader himself, and a bunch of priestesses and paladins. It should have been obvious since this was the Holy Kingdom, but it wasn't precisely a theocracy. Additionally, with us being adventurers, I had expected fewer divine users and more nobles trying to make an easy investment by 'nurturing' us.
Fortunately, Kelart Custodio had been here to deliver me the status upgrade I was hoping for and not only that. Instead of a normal noble that I would get under my control, I was now in close proximity to one of the highest authorities in this country. It would almost result in a too drastic jump in status that it completely rattled what I had intended to do.
I wanted to build my trust up slowly but surely by using future unrest and me quelling it. Such a big jump to the top of society would make most people belonging to that group suspicious of some foul play and that wasn't the attention I wanted. Either way, I had bought myself a bit of time with my comment about Neia's possible training under me.
There was a brief moment where I thought about lying, but I quickly dismissed it as I already had real excuses. As I finished the thought I stood up with a smile on my face and placed the napkin that I used to dry up the wine on the corner of my lips onto the table. "Thank you for the meal. Compliments to the chef."
"I will convey it," Kelart answered with practiced grace as she walked us to the door. I held out my arm and Fubuki immediately brought it into her bosom with familiarity as we walked through the door. "We will contact you once I arranged everything," Kelart answered with a firm nod and a smile.
Honestly, she didn't act like one would imagine a priestess. Her appearance emphasized the image with a figure to die for and a beautiful face. The only thing tainting the image was the occasional expression that peeked through her facade, which made you think she was planning something.
"I apologize for putting more work on your shoulders. Still, I eagerly await your arrangements." At my words, she leaned a bit forward with her fist on her chest and a grateful expression.
"Thank you, but this is what I want to do."
I seemingly hesitated for a moment as I looked at her, confusing the woman before I leaned forward and whispered slightly. "Beware of the demons' movement, there might be something bigger going on." With those words, I left her standing there bewildered at my sudden warning, which I had no intention of expanding on, while Fubuki and I left to stroll through the city, which I had honestly, already grown close to. Well, mostly the people. The fortified city was just that, a fortress meant to stop invaders.
There were few places in Kalinsha that emphasized the aesthetic. Even if the people here made the best out of what they had, I certainly wouldn't call it a beautiful city. "What are we going to do next?" Fubuki leaned in as she subtly whispered to me as if she expected someone to listen in on our conversation. There wasn't anyone around as my trusty Edan or Aneko would have already informed me. I could tell that Fubuki was just using the excuse of a conversation to get closer to me, which was honestly adorable, especially since I knew what she was doing.
"I want you to look through the underworld's members and build a loyal fellowship. Of course, do it anonymously." She looked at me with surprise as she knew that I didn't see criminals in the best light, but I would hardly be human if I knew that the world wasn't as black and white as some people might want it to be.
There were some good seedlings among criminals, especially those that were younger and thought they could escape their poverty through violence or generally only followed the laws of the street because of necessity. Besides, it wasn't like I would need to deal with them, that would be Fubuki's job or whoever she put up as a front.
Fubuki muttered my order before donning a resolute expression as she gave me an affirmative nod. "Don't worry. I will create followers worthy of your praise."
"I will rely on you then. Pffuu~" I blew some air against her ear, which caused it to twitch and turn red, while Fubuki bit down on her lips and looked away as if she wasn't bothered by the action, not daring to release a content sigh as we strolled among the peasants that were glancing at us from time to time. It would have been hard to ignore if I wasn't already used to it.
There were already many people I knew and greeted almost daily on my walk to the adventurer's guild. Seeing their face brighten up as they recognized me was such a treat for my heart. Not to mention, the natives were inclined to give me shit for free just like right now.
The florist, next to the bakery I occasionally bought something from just for the feel of being a normal person needing their breakfast, willingly gave me a bouquet of roses. I accepted it gratefully before handing it over to Fubuki, who instantly blushed at the gesture like I had gone out of my way to get it.
As we continued our stroll through the city, I thought about what I still needed. Aneko had already mapped out the underworld and partly taken over the reins. With Fubuki joining in as the head, it wouldn't take long until the city willingly gave everything it had to me. Of course, we could just take it over with force, but it would be troublesome in the future.
Let them come willingly to kneel before me and earn their right to be reigned over by me... Just kidding, that sounded like such a hassle. Next was the Southern rebellion against the crown, led by a middle-ranked family, and secretly instigated by a demon.
Even if someone found it suspicious that a rebellion started after I joined the crown's side, they would quickly pinpoint it to a demon working in the shadows. A being that had tried and failed to attack the castle and now relented in using schemes than to let his few demons on his side die in battle.
It was a level 55ish demon. So, if the kingdom discovered it, they might be able to dispose of it with some sacrifices. Fortunately, they had me, a literal angel on their side. Obviously, there are still some minor details to hash out and a few additional families to bring to the demon's side, but afterward, their little coup d'etat could start.
After a short walk, we arrived at the adventurer's guild. I stepped in with my plate at display as I beelined toward the reception where Elise and Kathrin were conversing at. They quickly realized that I was approaching them before their eyes snapped towards the Orichalcum plate around my neck.
Kathrin whistled at the sight, while Elise glanced at it before staring at me with awe. Elise obviously wasn't too surprised by it as she was the one to convey the message and must have gotten wind of what rank I would become. "I heard the first round will be on you?" Kathrin asked with an eager expression.
"So, I can fuel your alcoholism? No, thank you."
"What alcoholism?? You have to reward me for giving you all my luck. Because I gave you all my luck, my purse had been a bit tight lately, so how about you stop being stingy- Iieh!" She shrieked slightly when Fubuki woke up from her internal planning on how to conquer the underworld to glare at her.
Usually, she would just ignore the banter since I had told her that it was just Kathrin's way of conveying her friendship, but now she was 'caught off-guard'. She quickly realized that she might have overstepped and gone against my order, making her look at me, fearing to see my disappointment but only finding an amused smile on my face.
She sighed in relief and a slight blush appeared on her face before she crossed her arms and decided to ignore Kathrin as she usually did. I too focused back on the shocked Kathrin. "Kind of your problem that you lost all your bets. You should have bet on me succeeding my missions after the third quest I had come back without a scratch."
"I-I guess," she said still a bit shaken by the sudden hostility of Fubuki, who could crush her like a bug, something that she must have felt.
I looked at Elise, who was almost bouncing on her feet. "Congratulations, Sir Azazel! So, how does it feel to be the first Orichalcum plate living in Kalinsha??" She eagerly asked and now that I thought about it, the news would probably travel rather quickly and with it, some busybodies in the form of Mithril or even Platinum plates would surely come around to challenge the guild's decision.
"It's not been an hour, Elise. Nothing really changed for me. I will still do what I must." I chuckled at her excited expression. For her and the other natives, this would surely be big news as it also represented a new layer of safety, something that the citizen of the first big city near the wall desperately needed.
"Yes! But just the idea! Just by being the first Orichalcum plate here and with your speed of rank-ups, it will eternalize you in this city!"
"Well, it's not that I am not excited about what you have said, but I think it is a bit early… Let's just say I won't rest on my oars." Her eyes widened at the not-so-subtle hint I gave her before giving me an understanding nod. It shouldn't be too surprising, right? Why would anyone stop after achieving Orichalcum if there is a higher rank waiting for you?
I wasn't going to wait at all, especially since everyone already knew that my team had the capacity to reach the Adamantite rank.
"Alright, let's cut the chitchat. Any Orichalcum missions?"
...
"Beware of the demon's movements? That's what he said?" Calca asked her good friend and advisor, Kelart Custodio for confirmation and received a nod. As far as she knew, Kelart had been out to recruit the newest addition to the Orichalcum adventurers.
A new powerhouse that had appeared out of nowhere. Not much was known about the said adventurer. One crucial piece of information about him was the fact that he was a foreign noble with considerable personal power and his wife wasn't lagging behind him.
Their arrival would cause a stir among the Holy Kingdom's nobles and with it, it would cause some unrest in the opposition. She was sure that they would act quickly and try to recruit them themselves. Some of the dumber nobles will try to kill the two before this team could grow any more powerful and influential. Fortunately, Kelart had already taken the first step to rope in Azazel and his wife. If there was trouble on the horizon, they could give them a helping hand.
For the common nobles, it would seem that we only hired him to help out quell the rising numbers of demi-humans. It would give us some time to prepare for the inevitable fallout of our cooperation as they would hopefully try their best to gauge the situation and curry favor with Lord Azazel and Lady Fubuki if not to recruit them then to not push him to their side.
All this struggle around such a new force that would rattle the seemingly calm among the nobles, was expected. However, what wasn't expected was the warning Azazel had given Kelart. An ominous message that conveyed that this foreign noble couple might know more than they had revealed.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like they had hidden their knowledge because of nefarious reasons. In fact, that they had taken the opportunity to warn them, meant that they had some goodwill for this country and its people. Perhaps these foreigners had traveled here because of the demons? Was that the reason why they arrived and became adventurers?
As adventurers, they would have more freedom compared to if they joined the Paladin Order, so if they wanted to hunt the demon down without restrictions, it would make sense why they wanted to start out as an adventurer and travel anywhere they wanted without being bothered by southern nobles, who would impede any paladin of the order.
Not to mention that adventurers had some privileges to enter and be welcomed by all cities. No city would deny a helping hand, especially such a high-ranking team that could deal with problems that they weren't equipped with beforehand.
Unfortunately, besides their enthusiasm towards being adventurers and helping the citizen of this country, he hadn't revealed more, and listening to Kelart's recounts, it didn't seem like they would reveal more to her at this point.
"Indeed. Initially, I wanted to arrange everything to cooperate with the Paladin Order without anyone being the wiser, but I was more inclined to continue asking what he meant by that instead."
"If he hadn't told you directly then he won't tell you if you ask again a day or a week later." Kelart nodded, knowing what she had said was true. It wouldn't do well if they cornered Azazel and Fubuki by pressuring them into revealing what they knew, but she couldn't deny that the thought had entered her mind. It concerned the safety of their country after all.
She struggled with what to do as she didn't know why he didn't reveal more to Kelart besides such a simple message. Perhaps he didn't know more or the knowledge of it was too dangerous to reveal casually. If she knew the reasoning, she might be able to come up with something, but with this her options on how to approach Azazel was limited. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't do anything at all.
"Tell Pabel Baraja and his platoon to look into the matter of the demons again. We need to assume that the demons will strike soon, so have him figure out where they are. As for the adventurers, let them be for now and try to see how their attitude is when cooperating with the Paladin Order." Kelart nodded at her orders, though it didn't seem like she was eager to leave.
In times like this, they usually hung out, spending time together to take their minds off their responsibilities for a moment. It was always nice to chat, though now she couldn't help but look at her friend suspiciously. Kelart didn't seem to be with her 100 percent.
Something was distracting her, and it had started from her recounts with the adventurers. It was like something stuck with her, something that seemed to have placed a seed in her mind and was now growing. "What are you thinking about?" She asked directly as she knew she would hardly be able to figure out what had shaken the leader of the kingdom's priesthood.
Kelart's eyes focused on her again before hesitating for a moment, though that didn't last for long. "I was thinking about the new Orichalcum adventurers, especially Lord Azazel, his demeanor…"
"Oh? It isn't like you to think about a man. Are you smitten already?" She teased her friend and even though she had never voiced it, she had been concerned about this as she always seemed so disinterested in finding a good husband. She had felt guilty as she thought it was because of the workload she had placed on her friend that caused her lack of interest, but it seemed like she was wrong.
Kelart gave her a deadpanned look that seemed to convey that she had missed the mark. "No… There is just something wrong with him. I am not sure how to describe it. His presence and how he represented himself. I could see him and touch him, but there were glimpses of something…More. Transcendent. Exhilarant."
"…you touched him and it was transcendent And exhilarant? Sounds to me like you have a crush." She rose an eyebrow at the priestess, who just responded with an eye roll.
"I don't get a crush on men besides he is already married! Calca, I am being serious. He is not simple." She emphasized, being unusually serious, which made her take her words to heart.
"Maybe you were just swept in by the rumors and it affected your perception of him. You know like the new paladins of the order that swear I am an angel after meeting me for the first time."
Kelart thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Perhaps you are right. I might need to relax for a bit… How about a hot bath? I think you would need it too." Calca thought about it for a moment before feeling her sore shoulders from sitting and leaning over the various papers she had to work through.
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea." She agreed and didn't think much about the smile Kelart gave her. She sometimes had a weird look like she would have when watching her. Kelart always had a weird obsession with checking her body's health, especially her chest area. However, this time she won't be surprised by her sneak attack!
…
I glanced at Alyssa, whose name I had finally gotten after Sueko had mentioned her progress as a maid. The 'first' human maid of Nazarick, well not directly, but indirectly. She seemed to have gotten used to her position and was doing fine with most things, which was good since we didn't have a homunculus to take care of the trivial stuff while the others were either protecting, 'serving', or carrying out a mission for me.
I walked past her and entered the inn's bedroom, which reminded me that I needed a permanent residence in this city. After all, I had already decided to stay here for a while. There were lots of missions that could be accepted here even at my rank or at Adamantite rank, making me almost wonder why there weren't any here.
Though that question was quickly resolved when I remembered that there was only one Adamantite adventurer in the entire country and they would be busy elsewhere. It wasn't the case that there wasn't any other person or group that could potentially become Adamantite, but most served other groups like the Paladin Order or the priesthood.
These members had enough power to become the highest adventurer rank, but because they belong to another organization that didn't directly serve the public, they weren't that well known. Besides an Adamantite mission beyond the wall wasn't the same as within. The dangers outside were manifolds higher compared to normal ones.
Of course, the cooperation with the Paladin Order would eventually lead me to do jobs elsewhere, but I would still like to have a place to call home and return to after my missions. Though I could also just return to Nazarick and have my beautiful wife cook something up and let her serve me dutifully, after which she would probably thank me for allowing her to do it.
Man, my life was great.
I laid down on the bed with Fubuki. With my hands clasped behind my head and Fubuki's head resting on my chest, I closed my eyes for a moment, wanting to rest and wait for the others to organize our trip for our quests.
I ignored how Alyssa closed the door to give us some privacy as well as Yuri, who was 'protecting' me from the door. In this moment of silence, my mind wandered to what I would do next. I was getting stronger quickly and it wouldn't take too long until there was nothing in this world that could stop me any longer.
Of course, in time there might be some accidents and the faster I became stronger the better. My mind wandered to the items that I still had. 9 items were still left inside my inventory that would elevate me even further and enhance me to do things previously impossible. 1 of the 10 items, Pandora's Box had given me the heaven-defying talent that let me break through several levels and ensure I could master anything in the future.
Even now I could feel several new ideas spawning in my mind about how I could use my magic to create new spells that would be useful in all situations, spells that would even help me in battles against other beings that were my level- well at least on level 100.
However, it seemed to have its limits. I couldn't completely discern the secrets of my current angelic domain, which was strange since that wasn't what I had written into the lore of Pandora's Box. It should have given me the talent to 'master any skill, magic, or ability'... Perhaps to know the knowledge of what represented my current domain wasn't something that could be categorized as a skill or ability.
It obviously wasn't something I had considered when writing the lore since I hadn't known what would happen once, I had broken the gap of being a mere level 100. There were a lot of theories that I had thought about. The simplest and at that point most likely being just more levels after 100, which had proven to be only partly true.
For that reason, I had created the lore of my armor to supply me with constant energy to improve myself in the hope that it would substitute for experience points. Something that had fortunately worked. I was gaining more exp without having to lift a finger. Even now fifty percent of the divine power I would produce in a lifetime was currently injected into my body to improve it even further without limits, while the other half was elevating my armor in a similar manner.
After getting my talent coupled with the magical knowledge that let me peer into the secret of chaos magic, Wild Magic, and Tier Magic, I knew that I would hit a wall soon. I was now learning of the domains of Malkuth, the Emanation of the Kingdom, and Yesod, the Emanation of Life.
I had already learned enough of them to advance to the next subject, Hod, the Emanation of Submission. After gaining a minimum understanding of it I could move on to the next subject, the next domain an archangel could potentially reign over. The energy supplied by my energy couldn't help me understand it, though it could provide me with the energy to use what I understood and help me advance.
My talent could help to some degree, but for some reason, I couldn't use it to peer into the secrets these domains held. When the question of 'Why' came up, I first wanted to say that it was because the lore had failed to give me what I wanted. The second guess was that the domain didn't fall into the right category to be dissected by my talent.
However, it had helped me skip the Emanation of Life, so it should have, right? Or was it because it 'made me whole again'? Perhaps was it because my talent didn't allow me to dissect and master something I didn't know?
From a logical standpoint, there were 4 aspects to Life, to Knowledge. Known Knowns, things you knew that you know. Known Unknowns, things you knew that you didn't know. Unknown Knowns, things you didn't know that you knew. Unknown Unknowns, things you didn't know that you didn't know.
I was guessing that I couldn't use my talent to master something I wasn't aware of that I didn't know since it was hidden away from my sight. Chaos magic, I could feel and learn from it, but Hod? Fate? I couldn't feel it, only its chains on me, which had brought me back once more to an item that was just waiting to be used.
The blueberry bush of Arcane Knowledge. 'A seemingly ordinary berry that gives the user miraculous control over their mana and enlightenment of reality. One berry to half all expenses and double all damage types of every tier of magic permanently.'
Of course, initially, the lore was meant purely for halving my magic casting, but now the enlightenment into reality was much more appealing. I wondered if I ate one berry would I instantly jump another 3 levels?
I needed Sueko to plant and take care of it as soon as possible.