3rd Person POV
"Your highness, that's all in the reports..." a demon said
In the demon lord's castle, it was chaos, they all heard of the existence of the black rose and now they're regretting heavily of the attack, but to their relief, their spies have overheard Perseus rejecting the offer to join the other side and remained neutral.
But they can tell that they on on his bad books, they knew that launching the attack in the first place would destroy their chances of developing a relationship with the neutral nation and increases the chances of the blue rose joining the other side, the white rose on their side can take on a youngster and an experienced rose lord...
"Send a letter of apology, and give them a lot of gifts for their loss." the demon lord ordered "The people of that tree are close knitted and value each other a lot, the order was to ignore them and go only for the heroes, I knew I shouldn't have given that duke the permission, at least it's only his men...find out where they're going to be next and send one of our generals to apologize."
"Do you mean one of the 6 generals, sir?" one of his aides asked
"Yes, you know more than I do that even the guardian of the white rose fear the black rose." the demon lord replied "He said that that one particular sister is the only one he wouldn't even approach cautiously since she's got stronger than the olden times, we either get him on our side or make sure he stays far away from the war itself, now go."
*****
Perseus POV
I sat down at an isolated corner after I got my free food from the feast as I was then joined by Reiner and Edward who just arrived after the fight was done. My parents barely participated as they just joined in a bit and head home with Leilah. Rowan is in the distance catching up more with his sisters and occasionally try to keep the drunkards from hitting on his sister because he fear for their life that the roses might actually kill them.
"The black rose...that's beyond just shocking." Edward commented "Did you piece together the location from all those books?"
"Something like that." I shrugged "But please try not treat me like a noble, I prefer casual, commoner's casual."
"I know, that's why I omitted some words and change the way I speak whenever I'm talking to you, but seriously consider joining our side of the war, it's only about 3 years away from the fight, joining us now will be an easy assured victory, it will boost our morale, it-"
"Sorry, but no." I rejected the plea "Look at how easily we were invaded just now, even if we are unbeatable on land, loss is inevitable, but by staying neutral despite my opinions will always benefit me, everyone will be cautious and stay away, the rose are to serve as the balancer.
"And I am currently following their will, as long as I'm not participating, no side have an unfair advantage, there heroes and the the demons lords are in their own fights, your armies against theirs, no one will have an edge on the other side as long as I stay out and the people of the Paradis will be safe.
"I'm going out there and work my way up, I'll make sure that even if a victor emerged, my presence and influence will make sure that everyone here will live in peace, the moment anyone touch my people, they will have to face me."
Not gonna lie, as cool as all that sound, I talk a lot of shit for someone who's still stuck in the 3rd star level, I was regarded a magic genius and now I'm nothing more than average at best.
See readers, I know how to put myself down, I'm not as vain as you think, I know to humble myself...and by saying that, I'm not being humble, am I?
At the very least, the power of the 2 roses boosts all my other attributes and I can hold my own against a good amount of people, and with Leilah and Ruka by my side, I'm pretty much safe. But I seriously need to be ready to hold my own against a rose lord when the time comes, it won't be long till someone finds a way to separate all of us.
*****
The celebration continued on through the night, but I left for home that night where my parents said to sleep with them before I leave. They are worried for me and how it will go when I leave this village for the first time in forever, and this time, it might be a super long time before I can make any return.
But the duration isn't the problem, it's the danger, it's more dangerous than humans or demons.
"The last time we were this close was when you had a nightmare when you were younger, and now you're all grown up with some secret romantic partner behind our backs." Mom Rylee said
The only reason I even asked to sleep with you guys were to keep my act as a kid, and it was annoying because you guys keep saying how cute I was and how normal I actually was.
You guys are so lucky that I'm grateful to have you guys as parents and endure another embarrassing night. I can't even remember my last ones, all I remember was what was written in my records and it was that they died during the time of my capture.
"When we decided to have you, we already half expected that we might have to take care of you even till adulthood due to health problems." Mom Nyra said as she used her hands to cup my face "We wouldn't even mind that if you decide to just be a vendor for the rest of your life, a bit of adventure and danger is good, but just know that if you were ever faced with a decision that you have to lose your life for or something close to it, come home, we'll support your decisions from here on out no matter what."
"Even if it is a decision for me to have a literal goddess as one of my future wives?"
"Yes, but if that happens, please at least prepare a medical bed for me to faint onto."