3rd Pov..
The Adventurers had won the battle against the Black Bandits.
It was now midnight of the same day they had fought. A large camp was set up beside the bandit's one. Since the settlement of the Bandits were basically now all turned to ashes, they had to make one themselves.
Although it was midnight, there were still some adventurers who patrolled the area and a few tents were still lit up.
One of those were the largest tent, inside it were all the High ranked Adventurers or the leaders of said high rank teams.
With Robin seated at the head, on his right Armin and beside him was Riku. While opposite to them was Karyo and Milo.
Next to Milo sat Filguf and then the rest of the B ranked were seated.
Seeing that all had assembled, Robin began the meeting.
"Then, let us begin."
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Bael Pov:
"Then, Let us begin."
"First thing first, I want to thank the Golden Tear and Kibou team for taking all the attention of the heavy hitters of the bandits.
Without you guys, we might have a lot more casualties then we have right now."
Robin said, grateful of what we had done.
His words were replied by Riku.
"It's nothing of importance GuildMaster, it was our duty to do such things."
Spoken like a True cliche hero.
Speaking of hero, Gabriel-san said that she detected what the Unique skills of these guys are.
And saying that I was shocked was an Understatement really. I knew they will have unique skills, but to have such broken ones was not something I'd have expected.
Firstly, Riku here has a Unique skill called Hero. Basically it does what every generic Hero will get after getting 'defeated' by a powerful villain.
Said Hero will get a ridiculous amount of Boost in his powers that he will powermove through that villain in one move.
Well, not to the exact but you get my point.
It relies on his Will power, so it is unlimited as long as his will is not broken.
And do you know what it's Ultimate Counterpart might do?
According to Gabriel-san's hypothesis it will evolve to grant the user Plot Armour.
Let that sink in. Plot Armour, literally. If I remember correctly, It works with the same principle as The Chosen One of Masu something, well the reincarnation of Rudra.
The we have Haku's Unique skill, Sword Maker was it? I think Voice of the World missed a perfect opportunity to name it Unlimited Blade Works cause that is what it essentially does.
Creating swords and being able to enchant them might seem simple at first but after a few thoughts you will realise the true potential of that skill.
It's Ultimate Skill is something that Gabriel san has said to have many possibilities based on the desires and conditions of evolution. It could become something which you can literally create anything.
Then we have Misu, the healer of the group.
She has a Unique Skill which Gabriel identified as The Holy One. It's ability is unknown because this unique skill is currently dormant.
The uses that Misu currently utilises is it's passive abilities. Just thinking of what this might do when activated is giving me a slight headache.
Then we have Tsuzu, the mage of the group.
She....was the most normal amount them. Her Unique Skill was Scientist. Her skill revolved around her usage of Scientific knowledge in tandem with magic. It also provides her with ample Magicule capacity.
Thinking of all these Unique Skills in just this one group is giving me a large headache.
Just wondering how to deal with them is difficult.
Should I recruit them? But seeing their mentality, they are basically Heroes and I am a Demon Lord. Will they willing follow me? Most probably not.
Should I kill them? A part of me wants to do that to make sure nothing negative happens to my plans for the future. But also a large part of me wants to see what they might become.
For now, almost all of my Guardians can kill them with ease.
*Sigh* it's like there's someone out there that doesn't want me to have a easy going life...
[Author*sweating profusely*....]
Oh! Can I use that?
'Hey Gabriel, can I use your subskills to steal their Unique skills like Rimuru's Predator?'
[No, my Lord. My sub skill, Scan and Analysis as well as Copy paste can be only used on objects like magical items.
It can, however, copy skills of your subordinates since they are connected to the guild hence to me.]
'I see'
So I don't have any skills to copy or steal theirs so my plan of just taking away their Unique skills and leaving them on their own is also not possible.
Well, I'll leave this dilemma for the Future me.
(Future Bael, "Haaeyy!!)
Anyways. Back to reality.
The Adventurers were now just discussing of how to deal with the remaining alive bandits and it was decided to just pass them to the authority.
And for their possesions? Well we basically destroyed anything of worth in the battle so only useless ones might have remained.
Another thing is the information that we got from some investigation, well they, I knew it before coming to this meeting.
Basically, The dark magic user, Gil, whose name kinda resembles one Golden Haired King's was a relatively new member of the Bandits.
Something we all knew by now.
But what we got to know was that he was a very and I mean Very Dark magic user.
Based on the reports of Tsuzu and Misu's fight against him. He was very proficient in it.
And the reason he joined them, was because his "village got destroyed by some kind of a plague" and wanted to start a new life as a bandit. Which is not something any sane person would start his new life being.
And the strange fact was that, there was no reports of any village in the kingdoms past decade of history being ravaged by any sort of plague.
This added more to the bizarreness of the situation. And the fact that the suggestion of attacking us was his idea, made the puzzle more confusing.
Well for them that is. I already know what's happening.
Remember the scene when Tsuzu had her back turned and a dark mist was creeping closer to her only to seemingly sink inside her shadow?
Yeah, it's not a coincidence, that was a shadow Demon capturing Gil and sending him to the prison cell in Deudenia.
By using Mind magic, Citrus reported everything that Gil knew.
Essentially, Gil was possessed by a lesser demon but held his own free will. Much like Shizue. The more dark magic he uses at a time, the more That demon will gain control of him.
And he was a part of a large scheme by one of the Kingdoms adjacent to Gemmera which was larger than Gemmera by a quarter.
The Monster Infestation was also their attempt at whittling down Gemmera's forces for an easy win.
Devious really, making your opponent so weak that you get everything in one fell swoop.
But a variable put a huge metamorphical wrench in their plans, and that was your's truly.
So, to salvage whatever efforts and resources they wasted, they ordered Gil, who was also the one who planted that Orb in the Mine's chambers, to instigate a conflict between me and Gemmera.
If this happened, then they will complete their original plan and also get a good idea of my strength.
A well thought out plan but it failed when it met me. Now I know what they intended to do and now will use the very same thing against them.
Oh, and the name of this kingdom is Volen.
From the general explanation of Gabriel, it's a kingdom in the far West. Between Coleus and Gemmera.
It's population is about 1 million. And more than half of that is in military personnel. Although it has such a large populace, these kingdoms doesn't even match to the future western nations much less The Empire.
In the future, even Blumund will have at least 1.5 million, not to mention Englassia and Falmus or Falmuth which has 20-30 million each.
Regardless, Volen has a history of being a dark nation reputed of being a hub of dark sorcerers and demon Summoning.
So it's not a surprise how Gil came to be.
Now, how to take advantage of this opportunity.
I could use the tactic of how Momonga claimed Re-estize to be his homeland.
Maybe?
Nah, it's not original at all. Let's think for something else. Ah! Right, how could I forget this simple trick, which has worked through out human history?
By this I mean that, I will just simply make Volen launch an attack against Gemmera and then, in an act of "my friend is being attacked" I will swoop in and capture it.
And if anyone say that I am interfering between two nations then I will just throw them the treaty between Me and Gemmera at their face.
Now, the first step is to make Volen attack Gemmera...
[Message - Citrus?]
[Yes Lord Bael?!]
A Jovial and cheery voice sounded in my ear like some kind of an earpiece.
[I hope that Demon Mutant is alive?]
I asked, half hoping that he didn't die cause of all the torture that Citrus might have inflicted him with in these short hours.
Well even if he died, i could just resurrect him. Which is nothing but just a nuisance really.
[Certainly My Lord!! I like my guests to be alive as long as they can so I am currently letting him "enjoy all the fun"!]
With the same jovial tone, he answered.
[Very well. I will be returning tomorrow, make sure he doesn't die and he looks presentable infront of me]
I said, aware of the fact how someone will look like after even a few hours being with people like Citrus, Neuronist or Diablo.
Now that that's done, I focused back on the meeting.
"I will sent one of the Adventurer teams to inform the nearest Town about this incident in the morning. After which the captured bandits will be handed over."
Robin said to all of us.
Thinking of this, a perfect idea came to my mind to minimise the suspicion of my absence.
"GuildMaster Robin, If I may?"
"Yes Armin-san?" Robin turned his gaze towards me as well as everyone present.
"I believe that someone should be left behind to gaurd the Bandits in case of them somehow escaping."
"I was thinking that we should just wait for them to arrive and then depart."
Robin inquired.
"I believe I say this for everyone present here that, I want to end this quest as soon as possible, so waiting for the Knights to arrive will take away our precious time."
I said in a tone that sounded like I was annoyed.
My statement was agreed by every adventurers present in the room, who voiced their acknowledgement of my suggestion.
Faced with the various voices piling up on his head, Robin spoke up.
"Alright, Alright calm down everyone. I will agree that our time will get wasted waiting for the Knights to arrive. But if you want to leave as soon as possible, someone needs to stay behind to gaurd them."
To this, none said anything else. Everyone knew that you will get compensation for every monster you kill so being late to the party will mean less money for you.
"Then allow my team to stay behind and guard them."
"But Armin-san, you do understand what this means right?"
Riku, concerned of the disadvantage I will likely get said.
"Absolutely Riku-san and i reassure you, we are quite fast you know? So it won't take that much time for us to catch up to you guys before reaching the forest."
"Hm, Alright. If you say so."
"Then, it is decided then. As soon as Dawn breaks we will prepare to depart. Whereas, team Golden Tear will remain behind and wait for the arrival of the Kingdom's knights."
Robin finished the meeting by summarising the plan.
"Fine by me" "me too" "yeah"
Voices of agreement was made concluding the meeting.
-----
As everyone were returning to their tents to rest for whatever hours were left till morning.
Riku approached me with a call.
"Armin san?"
"Yes?"
"Armin-san, why did you volunteer to stay behind? I believe with the bandits captured and restrained, just a few C rank teams might have been enough."
Riku voiced his thoughts, which were certainly the usual way of how this might happen.
But I had my counter to this question.
"Riku san, against that particular bunch of Teams, only me and Ari alone is enough to guarantee the safe handling of the Bandits.
There could also be a chance of people like Gil attacking to erase any evidences left behind by him."
"I see!, how thoughtful of you Armin san. I didn't even think about that factor."
Amazed by my wisdom, and with a glint of admiration in his eyes he exclaimed.
"Besides, as I said before, I and Ari is quite fast in our movement. So it won't take that much time to join you guys."
This state seemed to have solidified my purpose, as Riku visibly backed down.
"I see then. I will retire to my tent now Riku san. We shall meet tomorrow."
"Hmn. Goodnight Riku san."
"Goodnight Armin san."
With that greetings, Riku and I walked the opposite direction. Both having different thoughts in our heads.
One thinking of how his plan will go on in the future and one completely reassured of their new friend's choices.
★★★★★★★
That's the end!!
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