"Finally.... it's Over.."
Sighed out Tsuzu while she collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted and out of energy.
"Yeah.." Looking up at the sky, Riku could see the sun downwards, signifying that it is now most probably past noon.
Soon everyone gathered together. Most of the Adventurers were gathering their war spoils while the Guildmaster and the leaders talked.
"Well guys, the fight is finally over. But don't think it means the quest is over. Until and unless we reach the Guild, the quest can't be said to be over yet."
"Yeah yeah we understand GuildMaster."
Spoke Karyo who was tired of the recent battle and just wished to get some well deserved rest.
*Sigh* "We all need rest Karyo, so I will make this short, we have almost cleared all the dangerous monsters in the forest and have just left out weak ones for the rookies to try their luck on. Subsequently a chunk of the forest will likely be cleared to make pathways by the kingdom, so if anyone want a side-source of income then there's that. That's all, we will depart after a short break."
With that said, everyone dispersed to take some rest. After an hour or so, everyone was energized enough for the journey back which will again take 3-4 days.
While on the journey Kibou and Golden Tear, chatted about what they would do after this.
Riku as the leader spoke that Kibou will likely travel to nearby kingdoms and look for more opportunities to learn something new.
While Armin said that he wishes to meet the New Demon Lord first then venture into a new journey.
When they reached the guild, both teams parted ways and bid farewell while also promising to meet at some point in the future.
-------
Bael Pov.
"You know what to do right?"
"Yes My Lord, I will do my utmost best.."
"Good. Aria, if anything comes up that the Doppelganger or you can't handle the call me. Don't hesitate even a bit."
"Understood my Lord."
Assigning Aria and a doppelganger as my double to continue my 'journey' I opened a Gate, travelling back to Deudenia.
When I exited the Gate into the Throne Room, I was greeted by a beautiful looking Medusa standing diligently beside the throne with several hollow graphic pannels likely observing the Functioning of the Castle.
"Welcome My Lord.." with a bow of her head, she greeted me.
"Thankyou Medusa. Call everyone for a meeting, also call Citrus and tell him to bring the Sheep here."
"Understood."
3rd Pov.
It didn't take long for the Guardians to gather and line up in the Throne Room in accordance to their floors. At last, Citrus entered the throne room while carrying a floating Gil behind him.
"Sorry for the late arrival my Lord, I had to prepare this toy perfectly to present it infront of you.."
"It's alright Citrus. Bring the human forward."
With a wave of his hand Citrus brought Gil just infront of the staircase leading towards Bael's Throne.
Finally released form a trans like state Gil looked around to see what he thought was the most terrifying creatures surrounding him.
"Look here, Human."
And the person who was seated above called out to him. The look of cold indifference made him shiver inside his core.
"How dare you look at Your God like that!! Bow immediately!" Exclaimed Citrus at the outright ignorance of this creature.
Startled by the shout, Gil swiftly bowed.
"Hmn. It will be enough Citrus."
"Yes My Lord."
"So, Gil. Tell me more about your kingdom."
"Y-yes!...Volen is-.."
While he unknowingly stated what I already knew from the mind reading, I also got to know the structure of the kingdom.
Basically, Volen had no Monarchy but had a democratic like government, runned by seven ruling figures specializing in different areas of magic.
Attack magic, Reasearch of Magic, Buffing Magic, Summoning Magic, Utilities Magic, Defensive Magic and Ritual Magic.
These fields in the Kingdom have a darker variation to them, Summoning can be considered a ritual in of itself but it seems that since Volen specialises in it, Summoning Magic was considered a field in of itself.
The most powerful and influential fields were Summoning, Ritual and Research followed by Attack and Defensive Magic.
Utilities and Buffs were seen as weak but still was important enough to have an area of its own.
The heads of each field come together each month to discuss the path Volen was following. Luckily, said meeting will happen just 5 days later making this a perfect opportunity for me.
"
"Yes." A monotone voice came from Gil who was under the effect of the Mind control spell.
This spell makes the victim a complete slave towards the whims of the user if he has no counter to it. While Mind Protection prevents any probing of his brain, if anyone were to get suspicious and attempt to try and look into his brains, they will see only fake memories.
"Darkseid, go with him under his shadow. Hide until the right moment and use your Skills to do what we planned."
"Understood My Lord."
Darkseid entered Gil's shadow, fully merging with it and removing any presence of his.
With that, Bael sent Gil to the border of Volen where he will reach the capital and the following plans he set-up will unfold.
------
5 days had passed since the great quest finished.
As soon as Gemmera heard of the completion of the quest, it immediately sent workers and it's chunk of armies to clear the lands and start the construction.
Soon news spread of the kingdom's intention of using the forest route as the New Main Highway for the ores.
This news made many happy that the kingdom was thinking ahead and was not going to depend itself on the new Demon Lord's pity.
While an equally large amount of people were worried of the Demon Lord's reaction.
It was common knowledge that Demon Lords were easy to offend and the destruction that follows was a whole another nightmare fuel.
But after even 3 days of the project beginning, no response came from New Orion which made the populace question whether the Demon Lord was even aware of the news?
But soon it was clear why there was no response from the Demon Lord. The City was sending traveling carts out with what seemed like horned Majins towards various cities and towns in the kingdom, selling various indigenous and usefull equipments.
Some were to heat water, some to produce a limited amount of water by magic, some to preserve foods and some to even heat it up, some to make fire, some to produce simple things like grinding of wheat, all of these were Powered by Magic Batteries that you could buy at a reasonable price.
This made it so that even common human with no prior experience of magic and who didn't even have mana in them could use these by just making their pockets lighter.
The news of this new technology soon spread throughout the Kingdom and beyond making merchants reroute their journey towards Orion, wanting to witness and but this technology to bring back to their respective kingdoms.
While this was going on, the council of Volen was going through the toughest times of their history.
With both their plans to weaken and assimilate Gemmera having failed and instead hearing the news of the surge of new technology made Volen nervous of what will happen if the Demon Lord finds the truth.
Soon, the monthly council meeting was held to discuss the Kingdom's affairs and what to do next of their failed plans.
----
Inside a darkly lit room, illuminated by only blue flames a round table was set up with seven figures sitting on seven seats.
Each held a significant influence in the kingdom, they were the members of the Council who together run Volen.
*Bang!!* "What the hell is going on!? First a new Demon Lord Pops up and decide to interfere with Gemmera and then now we have lost contact with Gil."
One of the Figures struck his first on the table in frustration as he seeked answers.
"Calm down, Sigul. We still have time left."
Another figure stated, addressing the first, named Sigul. Sigul was the head of the Summoning Department, also the superior of Gil, thus his frustration at supposedly losing a perfect test subject.
"I hope we do, if that Newcomer finds out then-"
Before he could complete his train of thoughts, he was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Looking at themselves, they thought the same thing, who would dare to knock when they knew a meeting was being held here?
"Come in."
Entering the meeting room was none other than Gil, he looked and acted the very same as he did when we fought with the bandits.
"Gil? How..no, Why are you here? Did something go wrong?"
Asked the only female member of the council.
"No, but actually yes, everything went wrong Lady Silby. Your orders to instigate a fight between The Demon Lord and Gemmera was a failure."
"How?! Did the Demon Find out?"
Silby asked.
"No, there was two powerful adventurer teams in the mix. Team Kibou and Team Golden Tear."
"Kibou!? I see...wait who are Golden Tear? I have never heard of them?"
Another figure spoke, first understanding why their plans had failed as the reputation of Kibou being a group of Heroic people was a known fact. But he soon realised another team was mentioned and he didn't recall any named Golden Tear.
"A new group I suppose, but it's leader killed the Bandits Leader."
"That A+ ranked traitor?"
Another figure asked, clearly knowing who Victor was.
"Yes."
"Sorry, but who are we talking about? And is he really A+ ranked?" Another figure asked, confused at having left out of the loop on the details of the plans.
"Simply told, the Bandit's leader was Gemmera's former loyal soldier who was also the former Commander in Chief of the Army named Victor. He was supposedly betrayed by a noble whom he married his daughter to.
Something like this and that happened and now his family is dead while he is branded a traitor, his military history erased off the records."
Explained Silby.
"Damn, his life was tragic." Sigul said.
"Yeah yeah anyways, do you know more about this Golden Tear?"
Silby asked.
"Yes, it is a two member team. Both are very powerful and I estimate them to be at least a low A+ ranked, especially the Leader, Armin, he easily defeated Victor and it is not impossible to say he already is at high A+."
"That's impossible!! Such a small kingdom and how could such strong people just appear out of thin air with no previous history?" Another figure stood up, slamming the table as he refused to believe Gil's words.
"It doesn't matter if you believe or not, you will now follow the Supreme One's every order."
A deep and mysterious voice echoed from all over the room, alerting the people present, except for Gil who stood still.
"Who is it?! How dare you trespass here!? Show yourself immediately!" Sigul ordered.
"My my, how impatient you are. Can't even see me and you are trying to be bold."
Once again the similar voice was heard but now it was easier to identify where it came from.
They turned to look at the source of the voice and quickly saw a dark figure emerging from Gil's shadow.
The members immediately understood what might have happened and screamed.
"Gil, you traitor!"
"Silence." A demonic voice escaped Darkseid as everyone swiftly closed their mouth, the people tried to pry open their mouth with their hands but found it shut closed tightly.
"I donot want to extend this meaningless meeting too much so I will be on point.
You will declare a full scale war on Gemmera. And also target The New Demon Lord Bael."
Darkseid ordered using his Skill, which allows him to manipulate the mindset of any being lower level than him.
"Yes We will." With a pensive expression everyone chorused in sync as if they had practiced earlier.
"Good." With that he re-entered Gil's shadow and spectated from them on to make sure everything went as his Lord had planned.
--------
*Tap* *tap* *tap!*
A hurried footstep was heard as a sweating and panting soldier quickly reached the throne room of the castle where a meeting was being held.
The guards guarding the door to see if the figure rushing toward them was an ally or not, identifying the figure as a friend they quickly scanned him as he was reaching the door.
Looking at each other and nodding in understanding, they quickly opened the door to the throne room without any delay.
They understood that by the way their friend was coming, it was urgent and any delay may cause great harm.
So, as experienced Door Guards, they knew when to stop someone form entering and when to unconditionally let someone pass, even if there was a meeting, it was not forbidden for someone to enter.
While the Nobles and The King were discussing the next step for the road planning from the capital to the Mines, the soldier entered the room.
"Your Majesty!! Grave news!! It's very bad!"
"Calm down soldier, speak slowly."
Gowlard quickly calmed the soldier down and the soldier, now calmer spoke.
"Your Majesty, Volen has declared war against Gemmera. Their council is now preparing for a full on assault from the plains of Adriff with their whole army and they have also declared Demon Lord Bael's claim as Demon Lord a heresy and stated they can fight both of us at the same time."
".....did they... finally go mad?" One of the Nobles muttered out loud.
Everybody knew that each kingdom had at least a few dozen spies that monitored other kingdom's movements so Volen must have recieved news of the display Bael showed in his arrival, not to mention the fight and the monster infestation incident.
All this entails that Bael is not someone who you should mess with Willy nilly but to claim they could take on both Bael's anger and Gemmera was a far stretch.
Yes, they had superior magic fire power but that was no ground to say they can defeat a Demon Lord. Thus the noble's reaction.
"*Sigh* let's discuss our plans later, this takes precedent. Gowlard immediately start mobilizing our army to the Plains of Adriff. Also inform Demon Lord Bael of this news since the message unfortunately include him also." King George ordered while taking a tired sigh.
"Understood your majesty." Saluting the King, Gowlard and the messenger quickly departed to complete their duties.
The plains of Adriff, was a stretch of green fertile land in the middle of Volen and Gemmera, acting as a natural border between the two countries.
On either side, a long line of our posts were set up which monitored any movement from the opposite side. The flat plains acted as an obstacle towards anyone who wanted to sneakily cross it.
On the side of Gemmera, in a watch tower, a group of archers were standing on guard as they watched the Army of Volen slowly but surely marching forward and assemle a few kilometres ahead.
"Why the hell are they attacking now? Have they gone mad or what?"
One of the archer muttered out loud.
"Why? Is it not possible for them to launch an attack now?"
Another said, confused at the former's statement.
"This is because, currently there is a Demon Lord residing in Gemmera and I have heard news that Volen has decided to declare war on that Demon Lord as well. Making this situation a bit absurd if you think about it."
"Captain."
Another voice from behind explained, making the archers to look behind them to see their squad captain also looking ahead.
"I never thought someone would be foolish enough to do such a thing."
"Clearly, there is someone or a whole kingdom. To think they can take on a Demon Lord." Another person who looked like a messenger said, joining the group's chat.
"Have any messages arrived from the capital?", the captain asked.
"Yes, the kingdom is also mobilizing their whole forces here, the nearest army should be reaching the outpost by sun down. As such, while Volen's army assembles, our first line of defences will be ready." The person said.
"That's good, I thought Volen might strike first, but it seems they intend to wait for us to get ready as well." An archer sighed out.
"Hmn. Now it makes sense why they even bothered to send a messenger first. They want a full on war."
--------
Meanwhile in Deudenia, Bael was strolling the halls of the castle with Medusa by his side.
Bael was lost in his own thoughts while Medusa was silently worshipping Bael's back from behind thinking her Lord Must be thinking something Philosophical.
'Hmn, why was orange named orange? Because orange was orange or orange is orange? If a human gets injured we use holy magic, then if an zombie gets injured, do we use holy magic or dark magic.'
[Using Dark magic will be the common sense.]
'Then what about the first part Gabriel?'
[....]
'Gabriel? Hey don't just ignore me.'
[To answer that, I need to be a Giga-Omniversal Skill to qualify to even comprehend the question.]
'sheesh..humans are really mind boggling. Coming up with incomprehensible questions.'
[That's would be correct. Humans are capable of doing many things, even stupid things such as walking straight into a wall.]
'what? !!Shit!'
While Bael was lost in his philosophical thoughts, he completely forgot where he was walking and was about to hit a wall just before Gabriel mentioned it, Saving his image infront of Medusa.
'Doing that was impossible, I have thought Acceleration for God's sake!'
[There was a slight technical issue I guess.]
'It was you, wasn't it?'
[Sorry sir, I have the right to remain silent.]
'Just when did skills have rights now?!'
★★★★★★★