A messenger from the southern front line had just sent a letter back to the royal family. When the king read this letter, he was very angry.
The nobles were summoned to the palace to meet together.
The content of the letter was written by Gula, Archdemon of Gluttony. Mentioning that the situation at the border had been resolved satisfactorily, this shocked everyone.
The reason is that the world already has five Archdemons because at least they will not affect the position of the royal family, but the appearance of another Archdemon will cause the balance of power to change. When an unknown person appeared before the king, he offered to completely deal with the "Disasters", in exchange for the royal family meeting his conditions.
At first, the king and the nobles thought it was just a childish threat, but they did not expect that person to become an Archdemon and be able to solve the thorny problem at the border for so many years.
Not only that, there are rumors about a female magician with outstanding magic at the magic academy. That female magician is not a human but belongs to the monster race. Which is not human.
Just hearing that made the king and a few nobles' blood boil, the monster race was an inferior species, they had no knowledge and they had no right to stand on equal footing with humans.
"We have to do something, we can't let this continue!"
"This affects our reputation!"
Looking at the nobles arguing like mosquitoes buzzing in his ears, the church priest looked at them contemptuously. He raised his hand so everyone would notice him.
"Your Majesty, I have an idea, do you want to hear it?"
Priest Josh, is the head priest of the church. He achieved this position thanks to his strong faith in God. Because of his statements, there are many people who support him, but there are also some people who think that he has a force behind him. They believe that that force is backed by the king.
"Okay, Priest Josh, tell me your idea."
"As we all know, the Northrealm border has been settled by the Archdemon of Gluttony. The royal family on that side will definitely trust our country more, to prove to other powers that it is their country." How powerful we are. So I propose, why don't we take this opportunity and turn him into a bridge between the two great powers" - Josh
Hearing that made the other nobles' faces darken and the whole room fell silent.
'What he said has a point, for a long time our country was considered inferior because they criticized how poorly a king like me ruled the country.'
Thinking about recently, migrants from the border have moved into the country to escape disaster, but those people are inherently liberal and do not want to be oppressed under the royal banner. If he used force to suppress it, it would bring a bad reputation, and he also did not want to spend a lot of treasury to support those cowards.
Not to mention there is a certain village in the forest that is hosting those migrants. Could it be that they are calling on those migrants to rebel?
*Slam*
Immediately the king slammed his fist on the table, making everyone in the meeting room silent.
'No! I am the king of Drakenberg, the ruler of the dragon kingdom, no one dares to look below me! No one!!!'
_______
In the village of Kemonomimi, Mae is feeding Belle even though she wants to refuse her master's kindness and does not want her master to have to do this. But who can refuse medicine?!
So Belle endured it and let Mae take care of her.
"Madam Mae, there's a letter for you!"- Fifi
"Letter?"- Mae
There are two letters, one has the sender's name as Heli, and the other has the sender's name as Sophie. It was a letter from her two children.
Reading the contents inside, one can know that her children have returned. After a long time, her children have finally returned.
This made Mae so emotional that she couldn't hold back her tears. Happy tears fell onto the two letters. She quickly wiped away her tears roughly.
Articles about the battlefield made her very worried about the safety of her two children. Her son moved to be near a war zone, while her daughter was a student at a magic academy, so being sent to support the battlefield was inevitable.
Now she can breathe a sigh of relief. Because they have returned to her.
"That's so good..."- Mae
"Madam Mae, there are gifts for you. From Lord Heli and Lady Sophie" - Grayce
At the mention of gifts, Mae was startled. She looked behind her and saw a pile of gift boxes stacked very high. Memories of the previous gifts came back to her mind.
These gifts are just what is needed for the upcoming royal party.
This is a party to honor the heroes who heroically fought against the Disasters. When those Disasters have been repelled, the palace will hold a huge party. Both nobles and commoners were invited.
But...
The letter Mae received had the royal seal, meaning that a small merchant like her was specially invited. This made Mae extremely confused. She already had a bad impression of the nobles at that party. Now that she was invited by the royal family, all it took was one small visit and she would die.
So Mae went into the forest to seek help from her friends, she headed to the place where the elves lived.
It started on a beautiful day, Mae saved an elf girl who was being pursued by many people. They were all so fascinated by that girl's beauty that they didn't pay attention to everything around them. Luckily, thanks to the help of the people in the village, they stopped the group so that she could save the elf girl.
When her first inquired, she found out that the elf girl's name was Lina and that she accidentally drank water from the Archdemon of Lust's spring, which is why she was loved so much. Luckily everything was resolved smoothly without anyone being injured.
Lina is now a normal singer, still loved by many people, just at a level of love, not chaotic like last time. Meeting her life-saving benefactor, Lina very warmly invited her into the tree house. After hearing Mae's confession, she immediately thought of an idea.
"Why don't we go see the Archdemon of Lust? I'm sure she will give you advice" - Lina
"Archdemon are Almighty, how can I run to them for advice?" - Mae
"Didn't you receive the two graces of the Archdemon of Wrath and the Archdemon of Sloth?" - Lina
Speaking of which, it was true that she had received the grace of two Archdemons, they were simply very carefree people so they easily gave her this great grace. There were only three Archdemons left with two newly appearing Archdemons, leaving five more Archdemons she had yet to meet.
After saying goodbye to Lina, Mae doesn't know where to start looking for the Archdemon of Lust.
"Oh? Madam Mae?"
A familiar voice caught her attention, and a figure jumped down in front of her from the tree, startling her.
"We meet again, Madam Mae!"
"Reir? Why are you here...Ah, that's right, you are also an elf" - Mae
"It seems like you're looking for Lord Lux, right? Just when I'm looking for her. Why don't we go together?"- Reir
Mae knew Reir when she was wandering around the Bazaar, many people heard her stories but they were mostly strange stories that had nothing to do with the stories of any specific heroes. In some miraculous way, the two of them became close friends.
On the way to the Archdemon of Lust's residence, Reir looked like she was very excited. This makes Mae feel curious.
"Reir, do you have business with the Archdemon of Lust?"- Mae
"Oh, it's nothing important. I just want to drink a sip of water from the Archdemon of Lust's lake" - Reir
"Water from the Archdemon's lake. Is it a lake that anyone who drinks from it will become beautiful and loved by everyone? Are you planning on drinking that water?"- Mae
"It's okay. At least more people will love me. Aren't you also looking for Lord Lux because of the upcoming royal banquet?"- Reir
"You...you eavesdropped on my conversation!"- Mae
"It's nothing difficult, it's just that these ears are much sharper than usual. But it's really strange to say the least, I wonder why you're not interested in the Archdemon's lake? Meanwhile, girls all want to become more beautiful to attract everyone's attention" - Reir
Hearing that made Mae stop, becoming more beautiful is what any woman wants. Mae also wants to be beautiful, but external beauty is only a part, real beauty originates within a person's conscience.
But what about that?
It's meaningless to people who only care about external beauty. When people love them, they want to become even more beautiful.
That's what Mae doesn't want to be.