Regal placed his palm against his face and correspondingly shook his head, the King baffled by the mere act and the guards and servants in the room looked at each other in bewilderment.
For many of them, it was the first time that they'd seen someone act so disrespectfully in front of the King. Ever since Regal entered the room, it was almost unbelievable. His very presence seemed disrespectful, his dirty, unfit clothes, and his blunt manner of speech.
But it didn't matter, the King was used to excusing such acts and Regal didn't plan on changing his act. And without a reason to act, the King not giving any form of signal or command, the guards would just need to leave it be. Not that they could do anything about Regal anyway.
"Let's leave the matter of becoming my disciple for another time, there's a month until it occurs, so we can handle it then.", Regal said as he leaned back onto his soft chair.
The King nodded.
"Yes... our next matter is about the Lucus forest"
Regal thought back to the demons he met in that forest. The two slate-skinned individuals with markings covering their bodies, and multiple deep black, ominous horns on their head. And the fact that he let the demonic general go...
The two-horned Majin shouldn't have been allowed to escape either. He would've allowed it to escape if it blocked or countered his attack just as Regal said, but it failed to do so, only to be saved by the demonic general.
"I'm here to ask you if there are any other details regarding the Majin, as well as to discuss the near future about the demons", the King said.
Regal looked at the King and squinted his eyes.
'The near future... obviously it's about me defending against the demons' attack on the Kingdom.'
It wasn't something that especially bothered Regal... he had accepted his position as the Archmage and knew what it meant, and since he was already within the capital for a while anyway, he was obligated to help for his own reasons.
Regal let out a sigh.
"There truly isn't much to say... the only strange detail I noticed was that the demonic general appeared much later in the battle to save the two-horned one."
His expression turned dark with a sloppily reeled-in aura of anger.
"They shouldn't have gotten away... how annoying. If I knew what his power was, then they wouldn't have escaped", Regal complained.
The King raised a brow as a few questions arose from Regal's brief description.
"The demonic general rescued a lower ranked Majin...? No, more importantly, it ran away meaning it knew it wouldn't win, so why would it risk its life as such?", the King wondered aloud.
Regal shrugged.
"I'm not sure if it was included in the report, but the two-horned Majin had the ability to turn the ground into a liquid sludge and control it. It's a rather simple ability, perhaps the two-horned demon has a special position within the ranks of the demons...? But if that were so, they wouldn't have sent him to the frontline", Regal explained which led to more questions of his own.
Regal shook his head.
"It could be so much simpler than it seems, perhaps the demonic general was only ensuring that all his forces were intact before their big plan...", he suddenly jolted as he said the sentence.
He averted his eyes and awkwardly chuckled.
"Haha... now that I think about it, they did mention their plan. Something about using a large force from the start...", Regal mumbled.
The King looked confused.
"I'm aware... you mentioned it in your report", he responded.
Regal moved his eyes to Pamel to which he stuck his thumb up in response.
'He was nearby after all', Regal sighed in relief.
Even Regal would feel guilty about missing details that could potentially cause the destruction of the capital... not that it would happen anyway with him here, but there would potentially be more casualties if the Kingdom was underprepared.
"That aside, although you mentioned that you didn't know what its ability was... did you see what power the demonic general used?", the King questioned.
Regal turned his head back to the King and thought for a moment. He didn't know exactly what the ability was, but...
"It was capable of... controlling insects", Regal said with his hand on his chin.
Regal then frowned, seemingly a little confused.
"No... it was more than that, his body was strange, it could split itself or something of the sort"
"You can defeat though, right Master Regal?", Prince Alba asked.
The room looked in his direction, his eyes showing concern.
'Calling me master already are we?', Regal laughed in his head.
"Of course I can. So what if he can split himself? All I need to do is destroy all of him, sometimes the answer is as simple as that", Regal stated with confidence.
Prince Alba's eyes brightened as they gazed upon the excellence of the Archmage. His confidence and aura exuded strength, the strength that Alba wanted to follow... to attain.
"Ahem... I'm glad to hear that Regal. On the topic of the demons, I have a proposition.", the King began.
'The actual point of this visit then?', Regal thought.
He looked at Prince Alba, making him wonder if it was possible that the King had actually travelled here for such nonsense...
"We had to make some quick decisions in regard to the demons' plan that you relayed to us. One of those decisions was a pre-empted attack on the demons. We intend to send a powerful party into the forest to discover and eradicate any demonic camps nearby.", the King explained.
But before the King could even ask the main question, Regal shook his head and replied.
"No"
The room fell silent for a few moments.
"...what do you mean no?", the King questioned with an irritated smile.
"The whole idea, don't do it", Regal suggested rather... imperatively.
Silence again.
Regal felt like he should have had a drink right then, the perfect moment and chance to take a sip. Though at the same time, he didn't like tea. He only drank it for the sake of seeming unlike a child.
The King had his fingers clenching against his furrowed brows.
"...and why exactly is that?", the King asked.
Regal's answer didn't require much build-up, he just came out with it.
"Because it's an obvious trap. I may not be able to discern everything about what's going on, but I can at least tell that taking the outpost closest to the Kingdom is a terrible idea, mainly since they didn't have their main forces ready to attack. It feels more like a taunt than anything."
Despite Regal's appearance at the scene, the outcome would likely be the same. The demons would take over the human outpost closest to them, leading the humans to investigate and discover the forwardness of the demons. Whether the demons ended up winning or retreating, it's obvious that it needed to be dealt with.
In the case of the demons retreating... the humans would feel confident. The demon general probably wasn't supposed to appear, and the two-horned Majin probably didn't expect a big challenge, making Regal an unexpected variable. But nevertheless, if this was their plan, then Regal may have made the demons' situation favourable.
The King shook his head and straightened his posture.
"We discussed this as well, but even so, we need to take action against the demons. It's true that it may be a plan by the demons, but it also may not. Just in case, we plan to have a particularly large force... with you included."
Regal didn't seem as annoyed by this response as the King predicted.
'I don't like it when nobility or royalty designates tasks for me... it feels like they're arrogantly giving me work simply because they can. But maybe it's time I stop pretending to dislike these types of tasks', Regal thought.
Regal was an unpredictable person in the eyes of others. They couldn't understand what went through his head, but in reality, it was simple. The strongest mage with an inconceivable lifespan reached the peak of his strength early in life, leaving him with nothing much to do.
No matter how reluctant Regal seemed, he usually ended up taking up tasks given to him. The real problem most had with him was his attitude they needed to deal with before actually giving him the job.
If anything, it's strange that he was annoyed by commissions, the majority of his life he had spent completing missions given to him while he travelling in the name of training. But the lack of challenge must have made them seem like a mix of interesting and boring.
But lately, things have been a little bit interesting, even if only slightly more so than before. He had a disciple and was the supervisor of individuals of another world, he was even able to meet his old friend once again.
"I suppose I could...", Regal answered, his expression unsure.
He wanted to find those demons that escaped, perhaps he would get the chance to fight the demonic general one-on-one... but that aside, it would be stupid to walk into a trap.
'Then again, I'm stupid aren't I', he thought.
A short chuckle escaped his mouth as he changed his expression to a smile.
"Yeah, I'll join your little extermination party, I have a score to settle after all"
He stood up and walked to the door, disregarding the gazes that signalled his disrespect.
"Have one of your servants relay the details to Pamel, I believe this conversation is over", Regal said as he opened the door.
"W-wait! Will I still be able to train with you for the next month?", Prince Alba asked urgently.
Regal looked at the King where he received a dismissive shake of the head. He then looked at the Prince and smiled.
"No"
And then he walked through the door and left, this time Pamel didn't follow him and instead waited to receive information regarding the extermination.
The prince looked at the King with almost beginning eyes, his eyes glistened as they appeared to be on the verge of tears. The King looked out the window in response, clearing his throat in the process.
"Uh... Sorry... Alba. How terrible of Regal to deny you like that", the King said.
***
The teachers were talking with each other as Regal exited his estate and walked toward them.
Kendrick was the first to notice.
"Regal! How was your meeting with the King?"
Regal wanted to answer, but he was distracted by the massive abomination in the middle of the training grounds.
"Uh... it was great. I'm going to do something for him soon...", Regal responded, unfocused.
Kendrick noticed his distraction and looked in the same direction. His face has a similar baffled look. He had obviously already seen it, but it still amazed him.
"Ah... What exactly is it supposed to be? You should know right?", Kendrick asked.
Regal looked at him with a wide smirk.
"Hehehe, it's nothing", Regal answered.
"No seriously, what is it?"
"I am serious. It's nothing. It was literally a bunch of random parts that I told them to put together."
Regal started holding back a laugh as he placed his hand on his mouth. His own humour amused him to no end.
Kendrick was also amused but was also a little shocked that he had them spend all this time for nothing.
"It's the perfect exercise for them, I bet they hardly used their body for the most menial things in their previous world. Don't tell them about it though, I plan to have them do it for a while"
Kendrick was silent.
'Maybe there was actually some thought behind it after all'