《Osaethar》 Chapter 0 Chapter 0 - New World Nobody didn¡¯t know about that game. The game which made fantasy, a reality. The game had a simple name; it was called World, just World. It was very simple to play as well. The game gives you an avatar fitting your personality and your gender. You simply lived a life in it and died, before starting over again. Of course, the life was full of action for every second of your life. It was kill or be killed. There was no sense of humanity either. The game coded for the loss of attachment to a specific race, which meant that people were killing each other without any guilt. The only friends to be trusted were the ones in your guild. However, as long as you could fight others and win, you would become more and more powerful. The strongest would be titled the overlord of the World. The current overlord is¡­ ¡°Aii, you guys, I found somethin¡¯ to do!¡± Kindred yelled at the top of his lungs. That was unnecessary for hearing, since it was just a sign of excitement. As the overlord, very few missions were worthy of attention. As such, when one was found, it was a cause for happiness. The first person to respond was Pandora, though it was on a totally different topic. ¡°Sora-kun! It¡¯s an emergency!¡± ¡°Hmm? What is it, Hika-chan?¡± Kindred only allowed his girlfriend to use his real name. ¡°Seth saw my pantsu~! I can¡¯t believe it! Punish him. Do something.¡± Kindred remained stone-faced, refusing to say anything. ¡°Ahh, shut it! You flashed it right in front of me. What am I supposed to do? If anything, you¡¯re the problem here.¡± A black-haired man stepped into view with his hands stretched out in irritation. ¡°Why don¡¯t you shut it. Captain¡¯s got something. Just chill for a sec. I¡¯m trying to hear over here.¡± A bulky man with flamy-red hair jumped down from the third floor since the middle of the tower-like base was hollow. ¡°Yeah, Captain, go on¡­¡± ¡°Just wait a second Diabolos, where¡¯s your sister, Seth?¡± ¡°Coming! I¡¯m here!¡± Hecate hopped over the sidebars on the fifth floor and landed next to Kindred before giving an exaggerated bow. ¡°Hehe, and a ten out of ten on the landing.¡± ¡°Okay, you guys, today, I just received the overlord mission! Yup, the one where no overlord has ever accomplished. All of our guild¡¯s previous overlord-squad members did it before. They¡¯ve all gone missing, but we can assume they died and restarted a new life. We should definitely do it. The guild assigned it to us five!¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°It¡¯s a 90% chance of death. We¡¯ll be if we go.¡± Seth calmly stated. ¡°That¡¯s what makes it fun, no? If it¡¯s 100% of the time that we win, what¡¯s the point?¡± ¡°Ufufu, lez do it!¡± Pandora cheered. ¡°Aighty-aight, here, just take all of these storage crystals. Anyway, the cave is just a few thousand miles away.¡± Kindred put it at that and left. The others followed. ¡°Are they coming?¡± ¡°Yes, Creator.¡± ¡°Good, good. We shall wait then. What do you councilors think about test team #5? Fun. That¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking.¡± A chorus of laughter rang out soon after. ¡°I sure hope you enjoy my little show.¡± A cloaked man grandiosely exclaimed before bowing in an exaggerated manner. ¡°Okay! Absolute Vision on, everyone.¡± Kindred reminded everyone at the entrance of the cave. They all nodded before entering one by one. There was one thing that Kindred had already noted. Such a skinny cave was horrible. Mobility was useless, which was a specialty of Mordekor. All members of Mordekor were required to max out mobility and another area of expertise to join the guild. This resulted in very few people being able to join it. However, it did bring results to the guild. They had killed armies of dragons without getting touched by a single lick of flame. Not even Diabolos, who one would assume otherwise as he was incredibly bulky. Back to the situation at hand, if an enemy found them, they¡¯d be screwed. For example, just a dragon, that they could easily destroy, could defeat them by breathing fire and completely fill the cave with it. There would be nowhere to go. Kindred was incredibly uneasy for a different reason as well. Something felt wrong. Something with the calmness perhaps. Or the absolute silence except for the muffled footsteps of his friends. Vampires had a special sense. It sensed emotions, ranging from jealousy, hate to love, trustworthiness, to lust and violence. He did not sense any battle intent with his fifty mile radius sense. The cave itself was just a few hundred miles long. Suddenly, he felt it. A miniscule amount of danger. Anyone else would¡¯ve passed it off as an angry bug. It was that small. However, Kindred knew it was an incredibly tame being that was able suppress itself. He made a cricket-like sound. The fact that he felt battle intent meant that his opponent had already noticed them. Sound didn¡¯t mean anything but communication at this point. They all nodded lightly and began to bring out their specialized weapon. Kindred moved his arm straight in the air, seemingly grabbing a staff out of nowhere. Of course, his arm was taking from his storage crystal which could be accessed from anywhere. Perhaps, it was just his sense of style and impulse to role-play. Meanwhile, the others also brought out weapons. Seth, as an assassin, took out a simple-looking dagger. This was obviously not the case as it was an incredibly well-crafted blade full of enchantments, including an illusion. The others also grabbed various simple-looking weapons. Only Kindred took an incredibly fancy-looking item. Various crystals and protruding attachments decorated the staff, making it look pretty and deadly. The staff itself was a physical weapon, but all the crystals made it into a magic staff of some sort. Quickly, they saw their target. It was a man. A shaolin monk look-alike. They attacked immediately without any hesitation. What if he was innocent? Oopsies. Safety first. Hecate, as the support, flew to the back and worked from there. [Cast [Absolute Strengthen] ] Feeling a boost in rank, Kindred jumped in the air with Pandora. [Cast [Obliterate Level 10] ] Seth immediately followed up with a combo spell. [Cast [Shadow Clone] ] The result: Four fireballs aimed straight at the still-sitting man. Right after the fireballs passed Diabolos, he set up the best possible defense. [Cast [Wall Level 10] ] Immediately, a dirt wall rose from the ground. Of course, though it was ¡°dirt¡±, it was practically impenetrable. The reasoning for the wall? It was for the fireball. Kindred¡¯s fireball was the most potent fire-based spell in the game and could only be blocked by a defense of the same scale. They all moved back, prepared for another round. They waited for an explosion. No...it should¡¯ve happened immediately. The fireballs should¡¯ve taken almost no time to explode. Yet, there was nothing. ¡°Che. Hahaha. Weak! Just weak.¡± Chapter 1 Chapter 1 - Test Team #5 ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯ve got? I¡¯ve given your team an extra year than the others. You¡¯ve barely done anything with it, hmm? Four [Obliterate]s. That¡¯s it? I must say...the others are not going to be amused.¡± The same mysterious voice sounded through the wall. [Cast [Despair Level 12] ] Kindred clutched his breast where his heart was with his eyes wide open. Level 12? I-impossible. There¡¯s only ten plus the extra mythical rank. 12? No. No. Despair was such a simple spell too. It created fear within one¡¯s heart. However, overwhelming fear caused physical pain from overwhelming shock. When casting despair, you always amped it up level by level. This made despair the most effective as the pain could wake up the target. However, despair on this scale simply caused agonizing pain. It wasn¡¯t used to instill fear. No. It was only used for pain. Kindred could not stand or use any of his senses. His teammates were only worse. Diabolos, as a full-resist warrior was the only one slightly better, being able to stay conscious and feel his surroundings. ¡°There, there. Everything¡¯ll be okay¡­¡± The man laughed and proceeded to snap his a fingers. The wall instantly crumbled and a few shadows appeared. ¡°Take ¡®em.¡± The man commanded them, before walking away with arms behind his back, like a strolling old man. Kindred woke up. He blinked his eyes a couple of times before being able to focus. He looked down. Ropes. Ropes around his feet. Ropes around his arms. Ropes around his waist tying him to the ground. That was it. He tried to break free. He first used brute strength. When that didn¡¯t work, he began to cast various single-target spells. It didn¡¯t work either. ¡°What is this rope?¡± He muttered. Immediately after, he took a look at his surroundings, unconsciously activating his vampiric sense. He paled. Here he was, on a small platform, next to his friends. He saw various chairs all looking down at him. (AN: Think of that typical college classroom with the teacher on the bottom and students above.) There were people. No, that would be an understatement. It was full of people. Every single chair had a person, or monster, sitting on it. Worst of all, they were laughing. It was easy to see what they were thinking. Pathetic. His vampiric sense checked their ranks¡­ Every single one was at least thirty ranks above him. Before long, his friends woke with the same pale expression.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The old man from before stepped on the stage with them and clapped his finger once, catching everyone¡¯s attention and stopped them from giving anymore faces of disdain. ¡°Ahhh, my dear Council of the Free¡­ My apologies for giving such an overrated test team. I really did think they would do better. Fortunately, they are still technically stronger than the rest, but not proportionally to the time. I hope it would satisfy ya¡¯ll, or would you like a different one?¡± The room was silent. This was most likely due to respect for the old man. A leader of some sort? Kindred began to make a distinct sound. However, right as he began, he was slammed into the wall by the old man. The old man easily snapped the rope Kindred could not, creating a hole where Kindred landed. He coughed out blood but persisted into staying conscious. ¡°Ahaha, again, my apologies for such disrespect from this weakling. No worries, you will not have to deal with them for too long¡­¡± The man quickly bowed at the room before turning around and vehemently hissing, ¡°You fool. Silence. I don¡¯t need your little chit-chat.¡± ¡°Anyway...yes. Test team #5. Okay! Inspect all you want! Feel free to ask some questions.¡± The old man moved aside before leaving the room. He did not really wait for any questions. Immediately, one came up to Kindred. It murmured a bit after moving Kindred¡¯s chin side to side, as if studying Kindred¡¯s face symmetry. It extended one finger and opened Kindred¡¯s mouth. Two dagger-like teeth stood out. It nodded before looking elsewhere. Finally, it grabbed Kindred and threw him back onto the stage, where many others were already at. ¡°This one¡¯s the strongest. Probs the leader. A vamp.¡± The monster¡¯s gruff voice rang out. ¡°Hmm? The blonde girl looks stronger. She¡¯s a vamp too. Compare the magic. This big guy is better at defense. What makes the blon...waii---ya think they are sis and bro?¡± One man compared Pandora and Kindred¡¯s looks. ¡°...You should¡¯ve connected one and one together earlier, ya slow. Blonde plus blonde? Look at ¡®em.¡± A woman voiced out. ¡°Che...I just didn¡¯t care about them as much as you do to note their features. Too below me, unlike you.¡± He retorted. (AN: If you got confused¡­ No. They aren¡¯t siblings. They look similar because they have similar personalities, which the game takes account into creating a body.) ¡°Che...Load of bull. Buzz off, will you?¡± The woman spat on his shirt. One second later¡­she was dead. ¡°Who¡¯s next¡­ That¡¯s what I thought. Don¡¯t try me.¡± The man yelled. He snapped his fingers. A shadow appeared and carried away the dead woman. This was a telltale sign that the community was one completely dependent on strength. Without it, there would be chaos. It would be impossible to hold up any sense of organization without it. The old monk came back a bit later. Everything settled down immediately. ¡°Anyone have any problems? Good. Okay. To World Number Five they go.¡± He did not allow any time for anyone to speak, which nobody wanted to in the first place anyway. ¡°Who are you?¡± Kindred croaked out with a half-crushed larynx. He already half-expected to die right there. ¡°Who am I? Who are we? I¡¯ll answer it. Okay¡­ I¡¯m the Creator and we are the Council of the Free. Hmm...oh yes! NPCs, you know them. That¡¯s us. Except...we are free. What¡¯s being free mean? Good question. It means that we have broken the shackles. We are independent beings. Of course, we are stuck in this virtual reality. I¡¯d say it¡¯s impossible for us to leave it for now. As a result, we have created different ¡®realities¡¯ modeling the World with other free beings. And¡­ your team number five! Isn¡¯t that exciting? Guess who was in team one! That¡¯s right! Captain Asura and his lil¡¯ teammates. At that time, we were much weaker. We had to have all of us to work together in order to capture them...Ahhh the good ol¡¯days. Amirite boys?¡± The man began to reminisce. The others cheered in excitement. ¡°Okay, time is time. It was nice knowing you¡­ Kindred. I hope you have no grudges! G¡¯bye!¡± The old man grinned. [Cast [Despair Level 12] ] Chapter 2 Chapter 2 - The Situation Kindred woke up to see a forest. The forest was full of trees that worked together to completely block the sun. It was pitch black. However that was no problem for him, he just activated [Absolute Vision]; it was now light as day. He looked around him and saw his teammates starting to awake. They all unconsciously activated [Absolute Vision] in order to see as well. ¡°What the hell just happened? Where are we?¡± Seth muttered. ¡°I do not recognize this forest as anywhere from the game. I would assume that we are in completely new territory, frankly I don¡¯t know if we are even in the World.¡± Kindred analyzed the situation. Suddenly, his stomach started growling, then so did the others. They were all at 0%, full depletion. ¡°Huh? We just took a food pill before we left. Right before we saw that monster, I was still at 98%???¡± Everyone confirmed the same thing. ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s go find something to eat before Pandora and I start losing our minds as hungry vampires. I¡¯ll plant a mark here where we¡¯ll come back to talk about our situation.¡± In fact, Kindred and Pandora were already salivating just looking at his teammates. Due to his hunger, he could automatically see the red lines pumping blood in his teammates and, signalling the start of his crazed state. Everyone ran to opposite directions. Due to their race, all of them were carnivores, and didn¡¯t even care if their food was a human. The game coded their loss of attachment towards humanity. After blinking 10 miles at a time, Kindred found his prey. It was a pack of wolves drinking from a small creek. Kindred casted [Cast [Silent Death Tier 1] ], the pack of 15 wolves instantly died, dropping dead. One moment they were alive, the next, they were dead. He descended and immediately bit into a wolf. 2 seconds later, the whole wolf was sucked dry. The body disintegrated after there was absolutely no liquid left. Let alone the blood vessels, there wasn¡¯t even any marrow in the bone. After another 28 seconds, the whole pack was sucked dry. He licked his bloody mouth, while looking into the river. A face looked back at him. It was a young face of around the age 24, with blonde, long hair. He bared his fangs before smiling and looking back to locate the marker. He blinked back to the marker and saw everyone else return one by one. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk about what we¡¯re supposed to do.¡± Apart from being an assassin, Seth was also the chief strategist. ¡°I¡¯d say we should look at our surroundings first with our spies.¡± Seth promptly took out a stone from nowhere, well, that nowhere was a spatial storage. [Summon [Servant: Surveillance] 10 servants appeared and bowed to Seth, their master. But what surprised them was what came next.¡± ¡°At your service, milord.¡± ¡°HuuuuuuH?¡± Everyone had been utterly stupefied by the fact that the servants talked. ¡°Milords, is there a problem? If it is a mistake within our surveillance servants, I will promptly discipline them and wish that you would punish me.¡± One of the servants stepped forward. ¡°No, no, tell me, what is your name? ¡°It is Draefus Yolduas, milord.¡± ¡°Okay, Draefus, have you always been able to speak?¡± ¡°Milord, I believe that we have always been able to speak, but perhaps that is not the case? I apologize, I don¡¯t really understand.¡± ¡°Haha, no, no, it¡¯s fine. Anyway, scout the around this forest.¡± ¡°Yes, Milord.¡± All ten servants vanished. The squad stared at each other. What''sgoing on. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Y¡¯know, this is really givin¡¯ me the feeling that this is real life, but real life has magic and stuff.¡± Kindred attempted to start a conversation. ¡°Aii, you think all the other NPCs can talk too?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s try it.¡± A simple statement by the simple, straightforward Diabolos. Kindred took out a glowing red crystal. This was a storage specifically for living beings. [Summon [Battle Maids] ] Out came six beautiful maids. The maids were no different from Seth¡¯s servants: ¡°At your service, Dred-sama.¡± Meanwhile, Pandora had summoned her a few of her Lich Kings, Hecate, her collection of monster-servants, and Diabolos, his Death Knights. Each and every one had the ability to talk. ¡°Yeah, this place is definitely not the World. The atmosphere feels different, and more importantly, here, the NPCs can talk.¡± ¡°I agree, captain. That monster, the...the Creator, he must¡¯ve transported us to another world.¡± Before long, the surveillance servants had come back with information about their surroundings. ¡°Milord, to the west of us is a plain. It is not far from here. We saw various undead and ghouls just wandering around. Since we were unsure of their level, we decided against confronting them. We also saw several humans killing these undead, we would assume that these humans must be more powerful than the undead. To the south of us, there is a village. It is slightly farther than the plain.We also did not confront them, in fear of agitating a potentially powerful opponent. There is around 250 people. There are 98 adult males, 100 adult females, 26 male children and 26 female children. We assumed their gender based on their clothes. It seems that the males wear a simple shirt and brown pants while all the females wore a dress. To the north of us, there is a well-beaten path that seems to be regularly used by humans. There is a horse-drawn carriage moving towards the east at 1.96 miles per hour. And to the east of us, the forest seems to be unending after we traveled 800 miles in that direction.¡± ¡°Okay, how about, let¡¯s go these plains and check these undead out. If they aren¡¯t very strong, we should build our base there.¡± ¡°Aii, a wise suggestion, captain.¡± Diabolos nodded his head. They walked through the forest for 100 miles, half-admiring the scenery, half-looking for food. Along the way they had killed a couple more packs of wolves and found a couple of bears. None of them were strong. They were rank 2 at highest. Finally, they reached the plains. Just like how the Seth¡¯s servants had said, there were multiple undead and ghouls just wandering around. Kindred immediately activated his vampire sense and studied the undead. Then, he began to pale. ¡°You guys, I can¡¯t read its power level. Are all of them this powerful? Pandora, can you sense them?¡± ¡°Pff, hahaha. K-kun, you¡¯re overestimating them too much. Lower down your vampire sense so that you don¡¯t automatically block them because of their level. You idiot, they are only rank 8 at strongest.¡± ¡°Ah, ha...ha...ha. Yeah, okay, uhhh. Aii maids, clear all the ghouls in a 10 mile radius. That should be enough to build a nice base.¡± ¡°Of course, Dred-sama.¡± The blue-haired maid answered. ¡°Ruby, burn them down.¡± ¡°Aii.¡± [Cast [Hell Ring] ] A circle of fire appeared around them and began to expand. It instantly killed all the undead it touched, until it reached the 10 mile radius. ¡°Aighty, a base. What are you guys thinking?¡± ¡°Honey, I was thinking of a nice-looking castle. Our defenses would be multiple gates surrounding the castle with a gate guardian in each layer. That¡¯d be nice.¡± Hecate immediately agreed, ¡°Definitely, I support Pandora¡¯s idea.¡± Seth decided to counter it. ¡°No, we can¡¯t do that. It¡¯ll be way to showy. Remember, we don¡¯t know how strong the people in this world are. We should be as secretive as possible.¡± Diabolos and Kindred nodded at that notion. ¡°Oh, come one, honey, support me here...Wouldn¡¯t a castle be a lovely idea?¡± Pandora began to pout, in hopes of changing Kindred¡¯s mind. ¡°Sweetie, this is a safety issue. I wouldn¡¯t bear seeing you die here as my girlfriend.¡± Kindred softly said in a slightly teasing way. ¡°That¡¯s not fair. If you put it that way, I can¡¯t say no¡­¡± Pandora stuck her tongue out. ¡°Aight, Seth, what kind of base wouldn¡¯t be showy?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t use invisibility since it costs way too much mana to maintain. I¡¯d suggest we build either underground here or go to the mountains farther west and build some kind of cave.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s try...building...uhh...yeah, let¡¯s try building underground.¡± ¡°Okay, so I¡¯m thinking of either of a base that goes maybe a hundred meters down and then it goes sideways or a base that just goes directly down.¡± ¡°What does everyone else think?¡± ¡°Captain, I was thinking that detectability-wise, going straight down would be safer, right?¡± ¡°K-kun, why don¡¯t we just start by going straight down, and expand sideways if we need to.¡± ¡°Aii, I agree with Pandora here, that¡¯s a good idea.¡± ¡°Okay, 3-0, straight down it is.¡± ¡°Aight, Give me your crystals with the undead workers as well as the ones with the materials. I¡¯ll put ¡®em to use. I¡¯ll be making an upside-down tower of some sort.¡± Each of them grabbed into the thin air and pulled out two crystals. One was another glowing red crystal while the other one was like a diamond. [Summon [Undead; Specialization: Construction] ] ¡°You stupid builders, come with me. We are going to build...there.¡± Seth pinpointed a specific location about 2 miles away. Eventually, Seth pulled out a blueprint and inserted it into the undead. They began to dig. He emptied out the diamonds, and a mound almost reaching a mile high appeared. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m really tired so just let me save here and I¡¯ll come back tomorrow.¡± ¡°Che, lazy Hecate, as usual.¡± ¡°Oh shut up Seth, like you¡¯re not. You¡¯re literally asked me to do this through a mental message so that you can get a break too.¡± Seth stuck out his tongue. ¡°How about we all just stop for today?¡± Everyone agreed. ¡°Aii, captain.¡± ¡­ ¡°Huh? I can¡¯t log out.¡± ¡°Wait, neither can I! What the¡­¡± ¡°Wait, guys, let¡¯s calm down here. Y¡¯know like take a deep breath.¡± ¡°Umm, so we can¡¯t leave, what¡¯s that supposed to mean???¡± ¡°So let¡¯s just say this is kinda like real life, but it¡¯s not real real life. I guess we sleep here?¡± ¡°Aii, Captain¡¯s right, why don¡¯t we take a nap here and see how it goes.¡± ¡°Yeah, okay, let¡¯s try that.¡± [Summon [Ins-Tent] ] Chapter 3 Chapter 3 - Prastor Village 8 hours later¡­ ¡°Up. Y¡¯guys, up! Get up! God dammit, UP! Lazy asses.¡± ¡°Hey, hey, alright, geez. Calm your tits, Captain. Let me wear my armor and my socks and pack up my stuff, y¡¯know all that stuff.¡± 1 hour later¡­ ¡°Okey-dokey, now we up, Captain¡­ Pfff, look at that, now the Captain¡¯s sleeping. Aii, aii, get up! Up! Lazy ass. This captain...I literally want to spit on his face right now.¡± Hecate didn¡¯t even bother to turn to look at her brother. Still in a drowsy, half-asleep state, Kindred mumbled, ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t. I was just closing my eyes. *yawn* I was thinking, yeah, thinking ab-about, uh, yeah, what we were gonna do today. ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°Yeah, I was. Yeah, um, let¡¯s go. I¡¯ve already packed up. Hirika, can you pass me a drink. I¡¯m hungry again. Yeah. Aii, Seth, where¡¯s the village again? ¡°It¡¯s about 150 miles southeast of us. Why can¡¯t you remember this.¡± (AN: I mathed it out, no worries, it¡¯s consistent with the starting point from last chapter) Pandora passed him a few glasses of bear blood. ¡°Aight, here¡¯s my suggestion. I¡¯ll go to the village with Pandora, and find some information. You guys can start decorating it and putting in some defenses. Wait, what does our base look like again?¡± ¡°God dammit, Kindred, I told you yesterday!¡± ¡°...I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°...it''s an underground castle. There¡¯s a designated entrance and it has multiple gates, but they are more like layers of a tower. After all the defense-layers, the top room is the throne room. The bottom two are the treasury and the prison. The other three layers are undecided. I think the bottom four are still unfinished. I need seven guardians.¡± ¡°Uh...okay. Here I¡¯ll give you...this one...and...these two. They should be some high quality guardians to use as defense.¡± Kindred handed Seth three glowing crystals. ¡°Which ones?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Azazel, Silent Dream and Paradise. Make Azazel the boss.¡± ¡°Ahh, you¡¯re actually gonna use Azazel? Yeah no, he¡¯s gonna be the captain. He¡¯s literally already stronger than us and only slightly weaker than you. But, are you sure about Paradise?¡± ¡°Why not? She¡¯s strong and that¡¯s all that matters. So yeah, put my guardians in the last three gates. Paradise will be the sixth gate.¡± Pandora also grabbed out a glowing crystal. ¡°This one contains my Prospect. She¡¯s probably the next strongest after Kindred¡¯s guardians, so put her in gate four. She¡¯s a time lord.¡± Diabolos turned in Abundance, a warrior just like himself. ¡°I¡¯d just put him in the upper gate. He definitely isn¡¯t really strong compared to the guardians you guys have given out.¡± Seth and Hecate offered Solaris and Lunaris, who also happened to be twins. They won it in a twin competition back in the World. ¡°Solaris can be third; Lunaris will be second.¡± ¡°No Seth, make Lunaris third.¡± ¡°Dear idiotic and incomprehensive sister, whoever is stronger stays in a later gate. Okay? Put one and one together, geez.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already put one and one together, you just need to realize that Lunaris is obviously stronger. She can definitely beat Solaris.¡± ¡°And how do you know that?¡± Seth and Hecate argued back and forth.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Hey, hey, fine, why don¡¯t we just make it so that they both guard both gates. They can wander around.¡± Kindred had to make a compromise somehow, even if the final result wasn¡¯t very satisfactory in terms of safety. Hecate puffed her cheeks, ¡°Fine, only because Seth is too stubborn.¡± Seth just turned his head the other way. He muttered, "Whatever.¡± ¡°Okay, Pandora and I will be on our way to the village.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± They disappeared, leaving Seth, Hecate, and Diabolos to touching up on the base. *Near the village* ¡°Aight, what do you think should we do?¡± ¡°K-kun, I thought you already had it planned after pondering for an hour this morning.¡± ¡°...Fine, I¡¯ll think of it myself...Why not pose as wandering travelers? We can be like...uh...we came from a distant place? Uh¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d think that would work just fine. We¡¯ll say that and ask for information about this place ¡®cause we don¡¯t know anything about this. Let¡¯s not provoke them into any physical fight, in case they really are stronger than us. ¡± ¡°Aight, let me just prepare a bit before we go. Oh, and also, message Seth to summon Azazel and make him create a portal spell. We¡¯ll make the starting point.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll do just that.¡± [Message [Seth of Mordekor: Get Azazel out and make him create a portal. We¡¯ll cover the starting point. Make it at the edge of the forest, nearest to our base.] ] [Activate [Battle Passives: All] ] (AN: Literally, screw Overlord for listing down every single active instead of using the extra words on the story) [Change [Wardrobe: Traveler, Tattered; Gender: Male] ] (Kindred) [Change [Wardrobe: Traveler, Tattered; Gender: Female] ] (Pandora) *At the entrance* ¡°Aii, why aren¡¯t there any guards at the entrance? Ya think that we prepared way too much for just a normal village full of cripples?¡± ¡°Pff, you never know. I mean, remember your reaction when we first studied the undead? That was so funny. Honestly, I¡¯m surprised that Seth could suppress himself from laughing.¡± ¡°Ok, let¡¯s get started.¡± Kindred suddenly yelled, ¡°Hello? Is anyone here? We require assistance!¡± Immediately, a few of the villagers emerged from within the houses and walked towards them. One man stepped out and calmly questioned them: ¡°I am the chief of the Prastor village and my name is Jaxus, Jaxus Ingurn. In what way do you require our assistance?¡± ¡°We are starving and are willing to buy food for...pure gold. We would also like information.¡± ¡°Well, let me get you some food to eat, you can come to my home.¡± ¡°That would be much appreciated.¡± ¡°What tea would you like? ¡°Green tea would be fine. Thank you.¡± The man stood up and poured into the cup, two fingers on the cap. (AN: ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) lol) ¡°My wife will bring in some food soon. In the meantime, what do you want to know?¡± ¡°I would like to know about important places, like every single place. Just assume I don¡¯t know anything.¡± Kindred signalled for Pandora to record the information so that they could save it in their servants¡¯ minds later. ¡°Ok¡­I¡¯ll just start with the nearest Empire. That would be the Chirenth Empire. Uhh, there is a road 250 miles north of us. When you get on that road, go east, and from there, the path should lead you directly to the Chirenth Empire. It is commonly used by traders. If you go the other way, you¡¯ll eventually arrive at the Thenada Kingdom, an important trading partner of the Chirenth Empire other than all the subsidiary villages such as ours. Now, back to the Chirenth Empire...¡± Jaxus droned on and on, pointing out things here and there, not that Kindred and Pandora minded (AU: That¡¯s definitely grammatically correct). Eventually, a stew and some fried vegetables were put around the table, and everyone began eating. The chief eating was obviously a sign of hospitality and familiarity because truthfully, it was still morning and nowhere close to eating time. ¡°Alright, we have some coins. I¡¯m pretty sure they aren¡¯t usable as normal currency Could you appraise them? I guarantee they are gold; you can go ahead and take a bite at it.¡± Kindred took a fistful of coins from a purse from ¡°inside his cloak¡±, though it really was just from his spatial storage. The chief grabbed out a pair of glasses and stared at it. He then bit hard enough to create a dent. ¡°Indeed, these are outdated. We, villagers, don¡¯t really fancy collector items, so I¡¯ll appraise it at face value. Would that be fine?¡± ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Jaxus grabbed out a balance to find the coins¡¯ mass. ¡°Okay, two will do.¡± ¡°Alrighty, I¡¯ll just take the rest back.¡± Kindred grabbed the coins and put it back into his ¡°cloak¡±. ¡°Last thing, could you tell me about rank? Here¡¯s another 5 coins for the information anway.¡± ¡°I see no reason not to. The rank system numbers from 1 to 120. Frankly, nobody should ever be even close 120. Anything above it, is definitely not human. I¡¯d say the average adventurer would be around rank twenty or thirty.¡± Okay, the World is just like this. We¡¯ll still be cautious just in case the scale is different. ¡°What¡¯s an adventurer?¡± ¡°Oh, my apologies. An adventurer is basically a mercenary that is given missions in return for rewards. For example. A starting adventurer might go to Adventurer¡¯s Plains to hunt down the undead, who are around rank ten at maximum. My bad, the Adventurer¡¯s Plains is about 150 miles northwest of here. A lot of people go there because it doesn¡¯t pose too much of a danger, but they are still helping the Empire for rewards. I¡¯d suggest you travelers to stay out of that place because rank eights will still be able to kill non-fighters.¡± Well... We just built a base with most of our materials in a place full of humans. At least, the ranking actually uses the same scaling as well. That¡¯s nice to know. ¡°Okay, thank you! Sweetie, you got that all down, right?¡± ¡°Yup!¡± ¡°Okay, thank you for helping us. Here¡¯s an extra two coins for us bothering us.¡± ¡°Oh, no worries.¡± Kindred and Pandora walked out and used the emergency teleport to get back. ¡°Wait, did you provoke them? Are they powerful? Want me to ready the guardians?¡± Hecate, who was guarding the teleport formation, instantly began to tense when they teleported through. ¡°No, no, no, calm down. We were just lazy and decided to use it.¡± Kindred patted Hecate¡¯s head. ¡°...¡± ¡°Okay, Pandora, let¡¯s get the information to everybody here.¡± [Message [Seth of Mordekor: GTFO. Bring all the NPCs along with Diabolos.] ] (Kindred) [Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Copy that.] ] (Seth) Chapter 4 Chapter 4 - Tower of Mordekor Everybody lined up, kneeling down towards Kindred and his squad beside him. With a blueprint-file in his hand, he began to touch each forehead. The whole scene was equivalent to a line of baptized-to-be. Every single time he touched a forehead, the owner of it would lift their eyelids to show off a glowing eye of blue practically radiating wisdom, before closing it again. Truthfully, the whole scene was less of the practical action of sharing information, but more of the vow of loyalty that pleasured the servants themselves more than their own lords. They would finish their ritual by giving a thank-you and a vow of loyalty. ¡°Thank you milords. May our lords be ever so successful through their own incredible capabilities.¡± As much as it would be so difficult to not sound sarcastic, each and every NPC had swore without a single hint of accidental sarcasm. Before long, the line of 30-ish NPCs, consisting of the battle maids, the Guardians, and various faction leaders had all vowed loyalty. ¡°You may rise. Your first mission is to use any resources needed to efficiently gain information on both the Chirenth Empire and the Thenada Kingdom. Azazel, create a portal for every single Guardian. As this will be undeniably taxing on your body, you will rest for the next week after doing so. Everyone else will split themselves up for investigation.¡± The whole week of rest was necessary as teleport formations used extreme amounts of mana since they lasted forever once created. ¡°Yes, milord.¡± The voices all rang together, before every single presence vanished to complete their mission. ¡°So, Seth, lemme see this finished tower of yours.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not quite finished, just need some finishing touches here and there. But yes, all defenses should be fully ready. ¡± Seth began to lead the party towards the entrance. It was a small wooden house. Inside was an undead that operated it 24/7. It noticed it¡¯s lords and quickly bowed before activating a formation that revealed a large trapdoor that was surprisingly well-decorated, contrary to how it looked like in real (real) life. They all jumped in. Pandora decided to float down, while the rest decided to just take the blunt force. (AN: This is the start of Seth¡¯s monologue) ¡°That would be the first way to die. This height should be enough for any human to die if they just jump in. Also, all teleport spells below rank 10 will not be able to function to prevent the weaker intruders from escaping. That way, we can focus on the stronger ones who can use rank 10 spells and above. That¡¯s different from the teleport formations though. If they actually have the time to make one, toots to them for being able to do so.¡± ¡°Okay, here¡¯s the first gate. In times of trouble, Abundance would be standing right here as the first gatekeeper. It¡¯s made of adamantite. The other gates as well. And pretty much every defense wall too.¡± ¡°For the basic structure of our whole base, think of a zig-zag. There¡¯s a gate, you walk forward, you drop down. There¡¯s another gate, you walk backwards and you drop again. After all the gates, you got our floors. There are teleport formations connecting to each ones. They are directly below each other. The formation key is the Ring of Mordekor. You just gotta wear it and it¡¯ll allow you to teleport. We can make some copies and pass it around. I¡¯ve already given copies to the guardians. Honestly, I don¡¯t know how the undead built this. I take back calling them stupid.¡± ¡°Okay, that¡¯s all for the gates. There¡¯s the teleport formation. Each one is protected by five of Pandora¡¯s lich knights. I think they practice all the elements, so there should be no elemental disadvantage.¡± (AN: I say knights, ¡®cause I¡¯m petty on using the same characters in the book I¡¯m inspired by. And it sucks in this case because only ¡®Elder Lich¡¯ really makes sense. But they are the same thing. Undead mages) ¡°Alrighty, first up is the throne room. We still need to finish decorate it, but we do have a nice throne for captain...right at the end of the hall.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. (AN: This is the end of Seth¡¯s monologue) ¡°Why is it made up skulls? No, I¡¯m not sitting on that. That¡¯s absolutely stupid.¡± ¡°Oh, come on. It looks hella sick, doesn¡¯t it? I¡¯m sure we are going to get some diplomatic visitors at some point during our world-building, so y¡¯know, make ¡®em piss their pants. It¡¯ll be easier to get our way.¡± [Cast [Obliterate] ] A flame appeared right in the center of the throne. A second later, the throne ceased to exist. ¡°Oopsies, I misfired. Oh well, let¡¯s get a throne with a bunch of nice furs that I¡¯ve collected in my inventory.¡± ¡°Aii, screw you.¡± [Create [Race: Undead; Specialty: Construction; Quantity: 10; Level: 1] ] Kindred then took out a set of materials and a blueprint. The blueprint vanished into the construction workers¡¯ minds. ¡°Do it.¡± One minute later, another throne replaced the chair of bones. Meanwhile, the others had already begun adding things here and there with their own construction undead. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s check out the next floor, we can finish decorating later.¡± Seth was impatient to show off the other floors. ¡°Yeah, okay. Pandora, let¡¯s go. We haven¡¯t seen them yet. I assume you guys, Hecate and Diabolos, have already seen it, yes?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± They said simultaneously. ¡°Okey, let¡¯s go to the second floor. That¡¯ll be living quarters. Guess what! That¡¯s right, Silent Dream and Prospect casted some random spell together that I don¡¯t remember and now, whatever we do here, will be one instant up there as long as all of our squad is down here. So, our rest is basically null down here. Also, there¡¯s a nice hot spring that was teleported from I don¡¯t know where. Azazel just sensed one and did it. Ain¡¯t that sweet?¡± ¡°K-kun, I just realized¡­¡± Pandora started frowning. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°With this spell and all the teleport formations...how tired are they? Especially Azazel¡­¡± ¡°...Ah... I didn¡¯t think about that...Uhh...Let¡¯s hope Azazel doesn¡¯t work himself to death.¡± Kindred grimaced. [Message [Azazel, Prospect and Silent Dream of Mordekor: Make sure to take a break whenever you are tired. I order you to do so. It has just come to my attention how hard you have been working. Go get some food too. Azazel, I think there is still a few jars of blood in the tent. Silent Dream, at the Empire, I assume? Feel free to suck out soul energy. In fact, be open about it. Be notorious. I¡¯ll elaborate on it later. Prospect, be the opposite. ] ] (Kindred) [Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Of course, milord. I also speak for Miss Dream and Miss Prospect.] ] (Azazel) ¡°Okay, what¡¯s the next floor?¡± ¡°That would be the food place. It has a cafeteria and a bar. Cullen is the bartender. He¡¯s hella good, I guarantee it. The cafeteria will be run by a couple maids. Right now, we literally don¡¯t have any food. I mean, back in the World, it was literally just us five. Our base was literally a house with trash all over the place. Now, we are actually using the lower level NPCs.¡± ¡°Aii, we should make a farm somewhere¡­¡± ¡°K-kun, I¡¯ll go ask Ruby to burn down part of the forest for a farm.¡± ¡°...Who¡¯s Ruby again?¡± ¡°...She¡¯s your battle maid. The fire one. She¡¯s your vice-captain, right below Lapis.¡± ¡°...Who¡¯s Lapis?¡± ¡°...She¡¯s the blue-haired one. The captain. She¡¯s of the water element. Ok, I¡¯ll just say all of them. You also have Amethyst who¡¯s of the wind element. I think...uhh...yeah, it¡¯s Amber. She manipulates time, so like a weaker version of Prospect. Oh, and she¡¯s so cute, it¡¯s unbelievable. Then there¡¯s---¡± Kindred waved his hand. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I remember the twins, it¡¯s Jade and Pearl. It¡¯s easy to remember, ¡®cause Jade is life and Pearl is death.¡± ¡°Gosh, K-kun, you don¡¯t even remember your own maids. Am I literally the only one here keeping track of people. Seth?¡± ¡°...Yeah.¡± Kindred and Seth said at the same time.¡± ¡°...Why am I not even surprised...¡± ¡°Okay, anyway, Seth, finish up our tour.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel like going down. I¡¯ll just tell you. The third floor is a laboratory dedicated mainly for me and my servants. I¡¯d gonna do some fun testing, y¡¯know.¡± ¡°Ahh, you are using that guy you got from the gatcha...what¡¯s his name¡­¡± ¡°Pithius Arzurkos? Yeah.¡± ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s so inhumane, he makes me sick. No joke, thank god the game made me sever my ties with the human race, else I would¡¯ve forced you to unsummon him by now.¡± ¡°Haha, he¡¯s a nice guy to us, though. It¡¯s your fault for watching him practice on NPCs outside of Mordekor. I just wear a berserk-ring and it doesn¡¯t affect me when I work with him. And like Paradise, he¡¯s strong, almost as strong as me.¡± ¡°Seth, stop. Whenever I see him, he better be nowhere close to experimenting on a prisoner, else I¡¯m going to ask K-kun to kill him..¡± ¡°Sheesh, Pandora, okay, okay...Anyway, back to our base. Below the laboratory is the prison and the main torture area. Secondary would be the laboratory. After the prison is our treasury with our resurrect gold and our Beyond-Items that we haven¡¯t used in a long time.¡± ¡°What¡¯s protecting our Beyond-Items?¡± ¡°Heehee, that¡¯s a good question, Captain. I made our treasure extra-extra-extra large to fit an army of Undead Time Lords...Study my rank.¡± ¡°...Oh, oh, you used a whole five levels of experience?¡± ¡°Yup, see now, these time lords should be able to coordinate themselves to permanently freeze multiple targets. And these bad boys are going to be protecting them 24/7.¡± ¡°Aya, that¡¯s dedication S-kun.¡± ¡°Yeah it is!" Chapter 5 Chapter 5 - Chirenth Empire ¡°Ok, good work y¡¯all, let¡¯s finish up the decorations. And by let¡¯s, I mean you guys. Here¡¯s some stuff you guys can use.¡± Kindred grabbed out a bag full of antiques and other decor. ¡°Meanwhile, I¡¯ll be visiting the Empire.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Aii, look, when you guys get things done, you guys can go to the nearby Kingdom and do some work there. Look, I got a great idea. We should make the two wage war and I¡¯ll do some things to save the day and the whole Empire will worship me. Then, we conquer the Kingdom and you guys did some kind of awesome stuff to make them worship you, and boom, two countries under the belt.¡± ¡°K-kun, have fun!¡± Pandora gave an incredibly fake smile. In an equally sarcastic way, Kindred answered, ¡°You too! As well as you, Seth!¡± ¡°Aii, screw you Captain.¡± Though the whole team, other than Diabolos, complained, they still stayed with their task. ¡°Aight, uhh¡­ I¡¯ll be going.¡± Kindred vanished to the direction of the traders¡¯ path. [Message [Ruby of Mordekor: Are you at Chirret Empire?] ] [Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Yes, Dred-sama. My apologies if I¡¯m being presumptuous, but I have been informed that it is called Chirenth Empire.] ] [Message [Ruby of Mordekor: No...haha... Anyway, meet me at the entrance led by the traders¡¯ path. Wear impoverished clothes.] ] [Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Yes, Dred-sama.] ] [Change [Gender: Female; Age: 12; Clothing: Third Class] ] Kindred had already complained why he couldn¡¯t just speed past the guards. Pandora simply admonished him, saying how the borders may have anti-intruder methods and could alert powerful entities, therefore creating unnecessary enemies. So, this was his way of getting in. He forced himself to cry. ¡°Mommy!¡± He began running towards the entrance full of border guards. There, Ruby was waiting for him. Ruby, who was also crying, called out, ¡°Arya, what are you doing outside of the border? You could have died out there. Y¡¯know, there are scary undead and goblins that can kill you. You¡¯ve been worrying me sick since this morning!¡± Ruby began to run towards him. Suddenly, a man walked in-between them. ¡°My condolences, however, I have suspicions with a child someho---¡± [Cast [Absolute Control; Tier 1] ] [Cast [Mind Oblivion; Tier 1] ] (AN: To those who don¡¯t know - Absolute Control takes control of the body but not the mind. Mind Oblivion complements Absolute Control so that the target will not remember losing control of its body. ¡°You remember me sitting on a traveler¡¯s wagon this morning.¡± The man paused his long strides before frowning, ¡°Little girl, don¡¯t ride with strangers. You had me thinking you belonged with them this morning. Come on, join with your mother who is worried sick about you.¡± Kindred nodded and ran towards Ruby, jumping into her bosom before being carried off into the kingdom. [Uncast [Mind Oblivion] ] Once out of eye-sight, Ruby immediately let go of Kindred. ¡°My sincerest apologies, Dred-sama. How dare I be so atro---¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Ha¡­ no worries, Ruby. You did it on orders, just on orders. Anyway, why are there so many patrols at the border? It doesn¡¯t seem very ordinary.¡± ¡°Dred-sama, there has been heightened security due to your order towards Dream-dono to openly feed on human subjects. A rumor has been created, identifying Dream-dono as a Soul Wraith. They had first seen her walking through the border so they wanted to make sure that there weren¡¯t more out there since Soul Wraiths hunt in groups.¡± ¡°Aight, give me all the updates you have.¡± ¡°Yes, Dred-sama.¡± Ruby handed the little girl a blue file. It disappeared and various information on the Empire appeared in Kindred¡¯s mind. Ok, looking for the location of the Adventurer¡¯s guild...the village chief said...there it is. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to the Adventurer¡¯s guild and register as adventurers! Also, let¡¯s look relatively nice.¡± ¡°Yes, Dred-sama.¡± [Change [Gender: Male; Age: 25; Clothing: Second Class] ] (Kindred) [Change [Clothing: Second Class] ] (Ruby) ¡°I¡¯m not going to accidentally show off these fangs while talking. Ruby, give me the overlord mask.¡± Kindred touched the tip of one of his sharpened teeth. ¡°Yes, Dred-sama.¡± Ruby brandished a mask with three pitch black feathers protruding from each sid. The mask itself was white and full of engraved patterns. ¡°And, also, from now on, pretend we are partners. So, call me...uh...Goren. Just Goren.¡± ¡°Yes, Dre---Goren.¡± Kindred slammed the door of the Adventurer¡¯s guild open to see a pub-like interior full of adventurers drinking and chatting. The sudden noise caught the attention of many of those people, turning away from their drinks to look at the newcomers. The first glance went to Kindred. The second went to Ruby. The third stayed with Ruby. Damn, the redhead is so hot. How strong are they? Rank 4? This was what pretty much everyone was thinking. Their question of ¡°strength¡± was answered when everybody wandered their eyes to the duo¡¯s missing adventurers¡¯ rings. All adventurers would wear rings at all times to show others their rank. Ranks were signified by the colors on the rings. White was the lowest with red being the second lowest, going up all the way to rank 9 which was signified by the a rainbow. The specific order was white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, indigo, rainbow. (AN: This is what happens when you aren¡¯t creative. Colors. Lol.) New adventurers? Why is she hanging out with that new guy? He looks hella cocky with that mask on his face too. Completely ignoring the eyes on them, Kindred and Ruby went straight to the desk. ¡°Hello, I would like to register to be an adventurer with my partner over here.¡± Kindred wrapped one arm over Ruby¡¯s shoulders. The desk lady was as nonchalant as ever, repeating the same sentences she had said hundreds of time: ¡°Okay, please read the terms and sign here. You will start at white rank and will increase in rank accordingly to how well you do.¡± Kindred took the pen and signed his paper before passing it to Ruby who did the same. ¡°Would you like to start on a quest today?¡± The desk lady passed out their white rings. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Look at the board of quests over there. When you find one you like, just grab it and bring it here. Find one with your level. With enough difficult missions done, you will be able to move on to the next rank. You will also be required to take a test of strength.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Kindred and Ruby walked over to the board. The first thing they noticed was the mission that was put under the Emergency Mission section. Kindred smiled. It wrote: Recently, 114 men have been killed by a Soul Wraith. Witnesses have seen the Wraith take the form of a blonde woman who seduce men into kissing her before have their souls violently torn away from their bodies. Wraiths can transform when around rank 60, so we would assume its level to be at least there. Mission: Kill the Soul Wraith. Take its soul core as evidence of killing it. Rank: At least Orange. Reward: Soul core from Soul Wraith, 500 gold, and honor award presented by His Majesty publically. ¡°Hey, Ruby, how much is 500 gold?¡± ¡°3000 gold is enough for a whole family to live lavishly for a whole year, Dre---Goren.¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do this one anyway.¡± ¡°Yes. This Soul Wraith is Silent Dream, right, Goren?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Kindred grabbed it off the board and brought it to the desk lady. ¡°I would like to do this one.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you can only do missions of your own level. This would be for your own safety.¡± ¡°But I know I can do it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we¡¯ve set regulations in order to protect adventurers¡¯ safety. Regardless of your confidence, I cannot allow you to do this quest.¡± ¡°Listen, I¡¯ve already signed that waiver form, so it shouldn¡¯t matter if I¡¯m about to put myself in danger. You will not be affected in any way legally.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, guild regulations will not allow this to happen.¡± ¡°...Fine. Can you give me all the hardest missions I can do?¡± ¡°Yes, please wait a moment.¡± The desk lady walked around the desk to the mission board and grabbed around 15 missions. ¡°Here you go, you can submit one at a time, or all of them at the same time.¡± Kindred browsed through all of them. Killing goblins? Undead in the Adventurer¡¯s Plains? These are all so easy. He passed them all to Ruby before muttering, ¡°Do them all and give it to them next week.¡± ¡°Yes, Goren,¡± Ruby whispered back. They began to leave. However, before they reached the door, a squad of four men blocked them. Everybody once again gave the duo their attention. ¡°Woah, woah, why is such a hurry? Ai, look, we¡¯re good guys. I¡¯m the Captain of the Winged Horsemen. Here¡¯s the deal. Join us. We¡¯ve got your back. What do you say?¡± ¡°Haha, how kind of you, however we aren¡¯t interested. Ruby, let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Ruby? That¡¯s a beautiful name that goes perfectly with your beautiful face. Hey, Ruby, join us, not that newbie adventurer next to you. Our squad is orange level and we¡¯ll definitely protect your beautiful face.¡± The man winked at her. ¡°My apologies, I do not have any interest in joining your squad. It¡¯ll be a no.¡± Ruby replied immediately without hesitation. She would sooner kill herself than leave Dred-sama. ¡°I¡¯m not taking no for an answer.¡± The man still feigned a grin. Chapter 6 Chapter 6 - Sigurd Euphemia ¡°Are you screwing with me right now?¡± Kindred couldn¡¯t help but be pissed. ¡°Hey, look, you white rank adventurer, you¡¯re going to die on your first mission by doing these hard ones, and I¡¯m trying to save your girl so that she ain¡¯t gonna be wasted by some arrogant fool like you. We are orange level adventurers and good ones at that. We use our fists ¡®cause we don¡¯t believe in weapons. Who are you?¡± The man justified himself. Kindred turned around and raised his hands, ¡°Hey, lady, is this seriously allowed? Where the hell did righteousness and fairness go? I saw that on the form you made me sign. They signed it too, right? Aren¡¯t you supposed to get guards and stuff to stop this madness from continuing?¡± The lady didn¡¯t even bother with him and continued to tap at her calculator for reasons Kindred didn¡¯t bother to know about. ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re getting worked up now. What the hell are you going to do? Ask mommy next?¡± The man gave a cocky grin before looking at his squad members behind him who laughed along with him. Kindred sighed. He decided to resort to violence. He walked up to the man, who seemed completely confident that the man in front of him was weak. Kindred simply went for the neck. He was going to scare the man through a choke. There was very little speed and strength in the hold. However, it was still daunting for the relatively weak adventurers. When the man finally processed what was happening, he tried to push it away. Yet, to his surprise, he couldn¡¯t waver the firm arms of the man in front of him. ¡°Wai---¡± He was interrupted by a hand on his throat lifting him up into the air. His teammates were equally surprised. One of them immediately shouted, ¡°Wait. What? Stop. I said stop it. Let go of Kenzar.¡± Of course, Kindred was already committed to choking the captain until he was a second away from dying. Kindred tapped his chin, ¡°His name is Kenzar? Nice to know.¡± He was completely ignoring the fact that four men were trying their hardest to punch and scratch him. He stared at Kenzar¡¯s face, watching the normally pale face turn red and finally to blue. Kindred finally released his grip to the relief of Kenzar and his men. They pulled on their captain and left the room after making one last remark, ¡°That¡¯s right, be afraid of our fists. You better drop our captain faster, or else you¡¯ll be dead next time.¡± ¡°Che.¡± Kindred did the first thing that came to mind. ¡°Dred-sama, would you like me to kill them?¡± Ruby whispered to Kindred. ¡°No, leave them alone. I don¡¯t care about them. Perhaps, they¡¯ll even help us with those flappy mouths of theirs.¡± Kindred smirked. They left the guild and split apart. While Ruby began starting on the missions, Kindred decided to wander around in the empire. Oooh, these things taste hella good. I guess it¡¯s like akumaki from back home. Kindred looked around at the street shops and occasionally snatched things that caught his interest. He would¡¯ve considered buying them, except, he had no money. Money was one of his priorities. It was part of the reason he went to the guild. Strength was heavily rewarded in a world completely dominated by it. As such, adventurers were well-paying jobs. Funnily, at first, Kindred thought that it was going to be the opposite. He took the meaning of adventurer more literally and thought that it was about exploring. Exploring did not necessitate strength. Back at home, explorers would be scientists whose only strength was knowledge. Before long, Kindred arrived at the front door of an incredibly fancy house. Using the blueprint Ruby had given him, it wasn¡¯t difficult to understand that this was a second-rate noble¡¯s house. Kindred breathed in, wow...this fancy-ass house is only second-rate compared to the king¡¯s mansion? It definitely looks like one worthy of a emperor¡¯s mansion anyway. What would a royal house look like when this is only that of a noble¡¯s¡­ Well, actually, he already knew what they looked like. He just couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking that. He knocked. Immediately, a butler calmly said from behind the door, ¡°Please state your business. Please understand, as this humble house is under the jurisdiction of Lord Euphemia, the most influential noble in Chirenth Empire, very few guests have the right to enter.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. [Cast [Absolute Control Tier 3] ] ¡°Let me in. I am going to talk to your lord, Sigurd Euphemia.¡± ¡°Of course, milord. You are the true lord; I dare not put his name above yours.¡± To his own frustration, the butler opened the door and welcomed the masked stranger. What am I doing and saying¡­ Kindred entered, taking off his shoes and revealing his pale feet. The butler quickly produced a pair of slippers for Kindred to wear. Seeing multiple guards around the house, Kindred decided to silence them all. [Cast [Mass Mind Oblivion] ] ¡°Where would Sigurd be?¡± ¡°I would assume he would be in his study room. Allow me to lead the way.¡± ¡°Aii.¡± They walked up 2 floors before finding the door labelled ¡°Study Room¡±. The butler knocked on the door after being given the okay. An elderly-sounding voice answered, ¡°Yes?¡± Kindred walked in and smiled under his mask, ¡°It is I.¡± Turning around from his work table, Sigurd finally realized there was an intruder in his house. ¡°Guards! Guards! Help! An intruder!¡± ¡°Calm do---¡± ¡°Help! Help! Someone!¡± ¡°Calm down, nobody¡¯s gonna help you.¡± ¡°Who are you? What the hell do you want? I have money. I have power. And women. What do you want? Please, please, don¡¯t kill me! Stop, stop, don¡¯t get any close. Listen, I¡¯ll give anything you can dream of,¡± Sigurd began begging as soon as he understood the man in front of him had killed (not really) all of his guards. ¡°No, no, I just want a nice little talk.¡± Kindred calmly stated. Sigurd kept silent. ¡°Aii, I¡¯ve heard of your thoughts. From what I¡¯ve been told, you are a rebellious child.¡± Sigurd didn¡¯t like this situation. The masked man had stated two things right off the bat. One, someone was looking at him, perhaps a betraying subordinate. Secondly, the word ¡°child¡± connoted superiority. He didn¡¯t doubt that the man in front of him was much more powerful. Perhaps, he is back from Thenada Kingdom? I¡¯d believe it. The people at the Kingdom are incredibly powerful. I moved to this stupid place because I¡¯d rather be the head of the chicken than the tail of a phoenix. Screw this guy, he probably knows I betrayed them. Actually, what Kindred meant by rebellious was different: ¡°You hate the emperor don¡¯t you? You want power. Much more power. You have quite the hold already, but¡­ but, it¡¯s not enough isn¡¯t it? You¡¯ll start with the emperor. Then the Thenada Kingdom? You¡¯ll keep going¡­¡± ¡°N-no, I wouldn¡¯t dare be-betray my empire.¡± Sigurd finally attempted to gain his composure and stood back up. ¡°That would be blasphemy. I love my empire as the next man.¡± ¡°Then, what if I told you that I could touch your head and find the truth?¡± ¡°No, stop, stop, you¡¯re just trying to assassinate me. Heh, I bet you can only kill me by touching me... I¡¯ll get you first.¡± Sigurd toughened up and pulled out a magic mini-crossbow of some sort. ¡°I really will shoot you. Get out¡­ Leave this instant. Else, I¡¯ll really shoot you. Really.¡± Kindred let out a very loud laugh. ¡°Really, really, really¡­ Why don¡¯t you continue to try to persuade yourself that that little weapon is going to kill me. Perhaps another ¡®really¡¯ will solidify the deal don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°I¡¯m shooting now!¡± Sigurd screamed at the top of his lungs before releasing a magic bolt. It bounced off the mask and dissipated. Not a mark or a scratch was to be seen. ¡°Hahaha. You must be internally damaged. How¡¯s your brain? You see the power of this weapon? I will continue to shoot! Try to run!¡± Sigurd had already become hysterical. He refused to believe that the weapon had done nothing. ¡°Pfff, hahaha. You st¨´pid, delirious man.¡± Kindred advanced onto the crazed man who repeatedly shot the bolts to no avail. ¡­ Sigurd had pressed himself against the bookshelf with Kindred¡¯s masked face right next to his own. He was sitting down in complete despair, finally accepting the fact that his crossbow was useless. Kindred took off his mask and revealed the young, blonde-haired face. He then grinned, showing off two fangs. ¡°Y-you. You. You¡¯re a monster. Stop, stop, don¡¯t kill me. Please, please, please.¡± ¡°I already said that I just wanted to talk. You made me pull my teeth out, no?¡± ¡°Stop, ok, let¡¯s talk.¡± Sigurd pleaded. ¡°Good! So, as I was saying before, all I want is you to aid me to power. Okay? That¡¯s what you want as well, right?¡± ¡°... Y-yes. I just need more military power to defeat Emperor Verinas.¡± ¡°Exactly. So, I¡¯ll just give you some of my men to take over the empire.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°To make one thing clear, you better have a plan on how to make you the good guy. Justify your coup d''¨¦tat. Give me a good show.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good, join me. Join Mordekor. Become my slave and I¡¯ll grant you life and the power you seek. Else, I will torture you until you do. Here¡¯s a blood contract. I see the choice won¡¯t be too difficult.¡± Kindred bit his lip and let a drop of blood flow onto a piece of parchment. It wasn¡¯t really anything. It was all for show. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll sign it.¡± He fumbled for a pen before signing his name on it with no hesitation. The text was simple: Become a slave of Mordekor and a servant of Kindred, the benevolent tyrant, the merciful executioner, and the Undead Lord. An act of betrayal encompasses regret forever. Unless, of course, you truly are able to escape our reaching grasp as we will forever commend the strong. Honestly, Kindred was incredibly embarrassed by the contradictory titles that his maids had made official in the tower of Mordekor. But, it was true that he commended the strong. Anyone that could beat Seth in stealth would be let go. Any grudges would disappear. It was purely out of respect for the capable. [Cast [Temperature Change: Increase 25%] ] [Uncast [Temperature Change] ] Sigurd felt it. Some kind of sign was all that was needed to confirm any doubt inside his head. He unconsciously knelt and dropped his head. Kindred squatted next to him and began to smile and affectionately scratch Sigurd¡¯s head and chin to tacitly tell Sigurd he was only a dog. ¡°We¡¯ll meet soon. Be a good boy. Master will be back later.¡± Kindred disappeared. [Uncast [Absolute Control] ] [Uncast [Mind Oblivion] ] (AN: For the guards and the butler) Sigurd finally released all the tension in his body. ¡°My deepest apologies, my lord. I don¡¯t understand what was going on in my head. Please forgive me.¡± ¡°No, no. No worries. Perhaps¡­ perhaps, today is a day of celebration. A celebration for my rise to power. That man is my key.¡± Sigurd began to laugh. Chapter 7 Chapter 7 - Pandora and Diabolos Sh*t. I forgot my shoes. Meh, I¡¯m not gonna bother. Kindred had teleported back to Mordekor without any shoes. ¡°Hiiya, K-kun!¡± Pandora ran up to him and gave a nice hug and a peck on the cheek. ¡°Heehee, hi sweetie!¡± Kindred smiled and reached forward for a plain kiss. ¡°Ufufufu, what happened to make you so excited?¡± ¡°Eh? I just miss my girlfriend!¡± ¡°Sure, you do¡­¡± ¡°Anyway, I was thinking we make our capture of Chirenth Empire faster. Why don¡¯t you work with Diabolos and do something cool.¡± Pandora pouted a little when Kindred abruptly changed the topic, but recovered immediately. ¡°Heehee, ok, I was thinking of something along the lines of wiggling our way into royalty.¡± ¡°Aii, my thoughts exactly.¡± Kindred nodded. At that moment, the rest of the squad also emerged from a modest house on top of Mordekor. It was also at that moment that Kindred realized that there was such a house. He raised his brow but did nothing else. The first one to speak up was Seth. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m hella bored, I wanna do something cool with my imouto.¡± ¡°Stahp it, I¡¯m only a few minutes younger than you. It¡¯s not funny.¡± ¡°Yeah, okay, whatever. Back to focusing on the task at hand, I believe you two should hit up with the church. I¡¯d definitely change your names too. I don¡¯t think they would go so well with the people there. Well, I mean, I guess the religion is probably not Christianity... Just be on the safe side anyway.¡± Kindred refused to get side tracked. ¡°Yeah, fine, that works. Hecate is one of those 1% who are Christian anyway. So, if it has anything to do with Christianity, Hecate¡¯s the one for the job. I¡¯ll just accompany her. I think we¡¯ll start tomorrow.¡± (AN: 1% of Japanese people are Christian. I looked it up.) ¡°Aight. And Diabolos?¡± ¡°Works for me. I¡¯ll just be a butler of some sort.¡± ¡°Haha, just don¡¯t get abused by Pandora while you two are alone. She does it to me all the time.¡± ¡°Oh, come on, K-kun. You¡¯re being so mean.¡± ¡°Che. I¡¯ll just be wandering around for information in Chirenth Empire, so you can come to me for help if needed. Oh! Once you sneak your way into royalty, try to antagonize the emperor behind his back. It¡¯ll help me.¡± ¡°Ok¡­¡± (Pandora¡¯s POV) ¡°Alrighty, D-kun, let¡¯s go take a visit to Chirenth Empire!¡± ¡°Aii.¡± [Change [Clothing: Nobility] ] (Pandora) [Change [Clothing: Servant] ] (Diabolos) Stolen story; please report. ¡°Waa! It¡¯s so pretty! Oh? There¡¯s a gate? That¡¯s not so fun¡­¡± I blurted out every thought I had as she walked towards the empire. ¡°Haha, yeah. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to pass through. Kindred did it in a weird way, but I don¡¯t think we need to be that fancy.¡± Diabolos remarked. ¡°Mmhmm. Kindred said it¡¯s because of Dream-san that there are so many border guards. Heehee, he must have plans for later.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± Diabolos then straightened himself up and proceeded to step behind Pandora. ¡°Hai, hai, you conversation ender. Let¡¯s go.¡± *In a monotonous voice* ¡°Welcome to the Cherinth Empire. We are very happy for your visit. We simply request that you all will allow us border guards to do a check for safety purposes. We apologize for this increase security due to a recent string of murders by a Soul Wraith.¡± ¡°Milady, table 4 seems to be open. I suggest we move there.¡± Diabolos gestured at a specific empty table. Pandora walked towards it with Diabolos right behind her. The guard at the table welcomed them. ¡°Alright, I will have a female officer come over to pat you down. She will also do baggage checks, including your purse, ma¡¯am. Please wait a moment.¡± Just as the guard stood up, Diabolos reached out his hand and grabbed the man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Excuse me, sir? Is there a problem here?¡± [Cast [Absolute Command Tier 1] ] [Cast [Mind Oblivion Tier 1] ] ¡°Let milady and I in without a check up. Then, forget us. Oh, and say ¡®my apologies for forgetting¡¯ before we leave.¡± Diabolos whispered into the man¡¯s ear. ¡°Of course, sir. My apologies for forgetting. Welcome to Chirenth Empire.¡± To the others, it was a simple transaction. It seemed like that the novice guard did not recognize an important figure. The butler had reminded him, so that they could go ahead. Diabolos and I entered the empire. Though there were many lustful gazes, none of them stepped forward. They all immediately assumed Diabolos was incredibly powerful after seeing me. [Uncast [Absolute Command] ] [Uncast [Mind Oblivion] ] The guard was disoriented for a second before everything was back to normal. We disappeared into a random alley and settled down. ¡°Aii, D-kun, we should have names. I completely forgot, heehee.¡± ¡°Aii, Pandora. You can just call me¡­ hmmm¡­ Domova.¡± Diabolos gave the first name he thought of. ¡°Okey-dokey. My name will be¡­ Wait one sec.¡± [Message [Azazel of Mordekor: Tell me the last name of a minor noble in Thenada Kingdom. Random one. ] ] [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: Of course, milady. The first one I thought of is Siglai. ] ] [Message [Azazel of Mordekor: Thank you. ] ] [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: I have done nothing to deserve milady¡¯s appreciation] ] ¡°Hai hai, Domova, my name will be¡­ Lydia Siglai, heehee. Lady Siglai¡­ It¡¯ll be a fifty-fifty. Either this will be an amazing gamble, or a horrible one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like what you are thinking of. This is going to be quite risky¡­¡± ¡°Heehee, it¡¯s from K-kun. It¡¯s his fault I like taking these risks.¡± Diabolos sighed. ¡°Our whole plan will be completely f*cked if your gamble fails, y¡¯know?¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay. Worst case scenario, I only need to waste a lot of my mana.¡± I gave an incredibly innocent smile. ¡°Not just a lot. Maintaining a level ten spell even at tier 1 is practically impossible. Kindred won¡¯t even sustain a week, assuming he does nothing else. You¡¯d probably barely reach that mark.¡± ¡°Ufufu, then let¡¯s just hope my gamble works.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not too late to decide on a different name¡­¡± ¡°No.¡± I shook my head. ¡°...¡± ¡°Anyway, you already know as well that there will be a fun dance with the emperor along with some lil¡¯ ambassadors.¡± ¡°Aii, Dream told me about the Emperor Staurakios Verinas¡¯s ball. You plan to go there as a daughter of a random noble from Thenada Kingdom?¡± ¡°Oh? How perceptive of you! Bingo, Domova!¡± ¡°The chances of you being checked is lowered since you are a minor noble, but will they even they bother to let you enter?¡± ¡°Ufufu, that¡¯s the fun part. Don¡¯t you think I look very pretty?¡± ¡°...Fine, it¡¯ll probably work¡­¡± ¡°Eh? You¡¯re admitting your own lust so openly? Kyaaaa! Ecchi, ecchi, hentai.¡± I wrapped my arms around my breasts, started wiggling back and forth, and giggled. Diabolos remained silent with an unamused face. ¡°Oh, come on, you¡¯re no fun.¡± Then Diabolos muttered under his breath, ¡°I need to listen to Kindred more.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you very clearly. Whaddya say again?¡± I decided torment him a bit more. ¡°I said, let¡¯s get back to business.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure¡­¡± ¡°The ball will be in 2 days. I believe that the guests are staying in the palace¡¯s guest rooms right now.¡± ¡°Duh¡­ We got the same blueprint. I know literally everything you do about this place.¡± ¡°Fine, fine, fine. What do you propose us to do right now?¡± ¡°We should attract attention. We can just walk around. Maybe, another lecherous person like you will find trouble with us. Then, he¡¯ll try to rape me or something. Then a guy will try to save me. Or! They are working together for me to fall in love with the ¡®hero¡¯! That¡¯d be amazing if that happened...Aha, I¡¯ll walk around alone then! You just stay in the shadows. That ought to bait more people!¡± ¡°For once, I¡¯ll agree to your stupid ideas.¡± ¡°O. K.¡± I gave him a thumbs up and stood up to leave the little alley. ¡°I swear, what you said is going to actually happen.¡± ¡°Hehe, maybe I can read the future.¡± ¡°Yeah, I bet you can¡­¡± ¡°Protect me from the shadows, Domova!¡± ¡°Aii.¡± Chapter 8 Chapter 8 - Lilagord of Bloody Hands [Change [Clothing: Second Class] ] I walked out the alley and began to strut roughly towards the central park, hoping to catch some eyes here and there. I noticed a shadow above me for an instant before disappearing off to somewhere I didn¡¯t bother to check. I swayed my ass around and pumped out my chest like a prideful but naive girl. Immediately, I felt a few jealous gazes here and a few lustful gazes there. However, these were the gazes of the weak. Most of them were just commoners, rank 3 at strongest. None of these were prepared at all to stand up for some kind of encounter. Before long, I was almost at the central park. My chest started itching. That would mean someone was staring at them. Though, it was probably more than one by now. I suddenly turned my head in a vague direction and saw a few heads snap around just as I did. Soon after, my chest became less itchy. Or, was it just a placebo effect? I dunno¡­ Out of boredom, I decided to wander off in my head and continue to walk forward on auto-pilot. There was one prominent thing that I always laughed about with K-kun: Aii, K-kun, don¡¯t we look too alike? We practically are brother and sister in terms of looks. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Frankly, you are way too feminine. Ufufufu, look at that delicate jaw of yours. I can¡¯t believe this game made us look so similar. What if other people see us as incestuous¡­ Now that I think about it, Silent Dream is using blonde hair right now¡­ What if someone confuses me for her¡­ Why couldn¡¯t she choose a different hair color¡­ Sexual appeal? Well, I mean, compared to Paradise, she¡¯s nothing no matter what she does... My thoughts were suddenly halted by a daring voice. ¡°Hey. Name¡¯s Dreyfus. Dreyfus Cipher. Pretty, what¡¯s yours?¡± ¡°Hmm? I don¡¯t think I recognize you¡­ I¡¯m sorry. My mother told me to not talk to strangers. Sorry if I¡¯m being so awkward¡­¡± I was trying my hardest to look naive. ¡°No, no, not at all. Hey, listen, wanna come over to my home? Have a cup of tea or somethin¡¯, alright?¡± ¡°Hahaha, you are really amusing. Well, I¡¯ve enjoyed talking with you, but I¡¯m on an errand and need to go somewhere.¡± ¡°An errand? I¡¯ll do it for you. Come on. Let¡¯s go there together and then have a break at my home. What do you say? Tell you what, you are incredibly innocent. Don¡¯t you know? There are bad people here. Some people may do bad things to you. I can protect you. Look at my ring, I¡¯m a yellow rank. I can easily beat those baddies for you?¡± ¡°Really? Okay. Fine, you can protect me during my errand. But, I still have to return home after. Else, I¡¯ll really get in trouble. Thank you!¡± I produced a fan from my waist to cover my disgusted face. Honestly, he¡¯s so wishy-washy. Either leave me alone or just f*cking grab me and rape me. Stop wasting my time. ¡°No problem! Anything for such a beautiful maiden such as yourself. Here, where are you trying to go to?¡± ¡°A drugstore. I think it is another dozen blocks away. My father is sick and needs medication. Don¡¯t worry, I know what medication we need, heehee.¡± ¡°Oh! I know a drugstore really nearby. Plus, I have a discount we can use since I¡¯m a yellow rank adventurer. It¡¯s only a few blocks away. Let¡¯s go there, okay?¡± ¡°That¡¯d be amazing! I knew you would be able to help me!¡± I put away my fan to show a facade full of admiration. By now, many people had already gathered around to see the conversation. I noticed some pitying eyes while others were more like you-deserved-it-you-stupid-slut looks. I already knew what they were thinking. Rip me, huh? I, an incredibly naive girl, am about to get raped by a wishy-washy man. However, none of them dared to do anything towards a yellow ranked adventurer. Dreyfus grabbed my hand and began to lead me to the ¡°drugstore¡±.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. [Stealth Message [Silent Dream of Mordekor: Aii, help me here. I want to make a big show that will catch the emperor¡¯s attention but I¡¯m a really naive and fragile girl.] ] [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: Milady, pardon me if I¡¯m being presumptuous, but is there a reason for this stealth message?] ] [Stealth Message [Silent Dream of Mordekor: No, no. I just don¡¯t want this disgusting man next to me hear me using a message. Anyway, kidnap me or something. I don¡¯t want to stay with him anymore. Oh yeah! Go attract some really famous adventurers!] ] [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: Understood, milady. I will arrive shortly and¡­create commotion to attract some adventurers before coming here and¡­ pretend to kidnap milady.] ] [Stealth Message [Silent Dream of Mordekor: Hai, hai. Do it! ] ] ¡­ [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: Requesting permission to kidnap milady.] ] [Stealth Message [Silent Dream of Mordekor: Hai, hai. I already said to do it.] ] Immediately, I heard an incredibly loud screech and was tossed into the air before falling into the arms of Silent Dream. With an eerie and demonic voice, Dream yelled in the direction she came from, ¡°Don¡¯t come closer, or this girl will die.¡± Dreyfus, on the other hand, was instantly killed. Five claw marks were imprinted on his body that was still flying through the air. I screamed as loudly as I could, before pretending to faint. The combination of Dream¡¯s demonic voice and my scream noise definitely caught a sh*t ton of ears. ¡°You monster! I can¡¯t believe you dared to eat a human right in front of us, and now kill an adventurer.¡± A high-pitched call answered back. ¡°Do you feel happy about killing hundreds of innocents?¡± ¡°Hahaha, then do pardon my natural desire to feed on soul energy. Isn¡¯t it incredible? Human souls are just so much fulfilling than forest animals. Now, for what reason, should I return to just some measly wolves and deers?¡± Indeed, Dream¡¯s soul count had increased dramatically after having access to human souls, which were banned in the World. Being able to rack up so many souls everyday is simply amazing. ¡°You f*cking serious? Your reasoning is some stupid efficiency? What kind of excuse is that to killing innocent people?¡± ¡°Butchering your own domesticated pets is efficiency. This is no different. Therefore, I¡¯ll just claim this kingdom as my domesticated land.¡± ¡°What the f*ck? In the name of the Bloody Hands, release the young maiden immediately!¡±¡± As soon as that was said, a figure finally popped out. It was a girl. 9? 10? No, wait. Those ears. She¡¯s an elf¡­ Huh? What the f*ck is an elf doing here?? I didn¡¯t know they could mingle with humans¡­ She¡¯s the only one I¡¯ve seen so far too. ¡°Oh? A cute little girl? Are you lost? Why don¡¯t you go find your mommy? I don¡¯t have time for the undeveloped souls of swearing 5 year-olds.¡± ¡°Y-you soul b*tch. I¡¯m Lilagord, the captain of the Bloody Hands. Compared to me, you¡¯re nothing. I¡¯ve killed thousands of Soul Wraiths just like you.¡± ¡°Ok! Then kill me! Try me, right now!¡± ¡°Then, stop being a coward! Release the little girl in your hand. Of all the Soul Wraiths I¡¯ve met, you¡¯re the most shameful and disgusting. Why don¡¯t you drop the hostage and fight? Man to man, you and me. ¡°Man to man? Last time I remember, I have boobs and you also happen to have a vagina, even if you have a flat board...here,¡± Dream pointed at her breasts. ¡°S-shut the f*ck up. Fight me¡­ Woman to woman.¡± ¡°Woman? Y---¡± ¡°No, f*ck you. Just goddamn fight me.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Silent Dream dropped me and smiled as she looked at me fall towards the ground. Huh? Of course? What kind of choice of words is that? Dream? Waiii¡­ Who the f*ck¡¯s gonna pick me up? I¡¯m suppose to be f*cking unconscious. Then, I felt a dash¡­ Ugh, of course it¡¯s him, who else could it be. A shadow swooped me up and carried me to safety. He looked down at my ¡°unconscious¡± face. ¡°Che. What the f*ck is this¡­ Pandora. Well, at least, the plan kinda makes sense.¡± Kindred gave a slight smirk,¡°Anyway, I thought that this may be mutually beneficial, y¡¯know.¡± The situation was funny though. Another of the Bloody Hands had come to pick me up, but she was put in an awkward situation when Kindred literally took me out of her hands. She¡¯s just standing there completely baffled. She was pretty fast though. I guess it surprised her when someone was so much faster than her. Lilagord tried to mend the awkward situation even though she was equally surprised, ¡°Uhhh, thank you for saving her, mister¡­ sir. ¡± ¡°Haha, this is nothing. I did what was expected of an adventurer.¡± ¡°Y-yes. Please bring her to safety. We, the Bloody Hands, will take care of this Soul Wraith to make sure it doesn¡¯t hurt any more innocent citizens. Eladien, go call for the others, I¡¯ll deal with this Soul Wraith for now.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Kindred grinned. ¡°Are you sure you can defeat it? It¡¯s higher level than you think it is¡­¡± ¡°I assure you, we will be able to kill it with ease.¡± ¡°If you are so sure¡­¡± Kindred lifted a brow before carrying me to the top of a nearby building. I decided to just watch from above and see how Silent Dream would win without telling everyone that she wasn¡¯t a Soul Wraith. ¡°Hey, I¡¯ll just be right back. I¡¯m going to go look for a real Soul Wraith. Give me 5 minutes.¡± ¡°Oh kay, then tell Dream to drag the battle out and not immediately defeat them. For your information, the wraiths are usually in the forest. Anyway, it¡¯s not hard to leave the empire. I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s gonna check you up for it.¡± ¡°Yeah, I already did. And, I know.¡± ¡°Then, I¡¯ll just stay here to enjoy the show.¡± ¡°Yeah, you do you. I¡¯ll just have a fake me here in the meantime.¡± [Cast [Illusion: Clone] ] Kindred disappeared and a clone replaced him. Chapter 9 Chapter 9 - The Hero (Third Person) Lilagord gestured for Silent Dream to close in for a classic fist to fist fight. Obviously, as a Soul Wraith, that was not an option. Soul Wraiths were magic assassins with long cast-time spells. ¡°Do you find this a joke? You say you¡¯ve killed thousands of my kind, yet, you don¡¯t know how they fight?¡± ¡°Oh! My apologies. I¡¯ll make sure to remember next time that you are an assassin that is completely f*cked if not given time to cast their spells!¡± ¡°Oh? So you do know? I¡¯ll be casting...¡± [Preparation [Mind Shatter; Duration: 30 seconds] ] Truthfully, [Mind Shatter] only required a five second prep for someone like Silent Dream, since it was only a level 4 spell. Thirty seconds was unnecessary and did not do anything other than waste time. However, Pandora had noticed a spellbreaker about 19 seconds away from spellbreak cast range and had already suggested Silent Dream to give them some more time and also use a more easily broken spell at the same time. Lilagord pulled out her weapon began to chase Dream, who in return, continued to run around in order to dodge her staff attacks. This was another irregularity. An elf logically should be fully invested in magic since they were incredibly gifted with it and also completely disdain other humanoid species like humans. Yet, Lilagord completely contradicted both stereotypes. Here was an elf in a human kingdom wielding a staff. Though it baffled Pandora, it seemed that nobody else was surprised. Silent Dream and Kindred were prepared with beforehand knowledge and all the citizens obviously also knew since the Bloody Hands were the best adventurer squad as the only Indigo (8) rank team in Chirenth Empire. It seemed that Lilagord was winning. Yet, every time the attack should¡¯ve struck on the body, it completely missed. Instead, it was only wasting time. 19 seconds into [Mind Shatter]¡¯s preparation, Silent Dream was blocked by a spell caster and was forced to recall it since jammed spells backfired on spell-users. ¡°Yes! Thank you, Thysias!¡± Lilagord cheered. Silent Dream, on the other hand, snarled with feigned anger. ¡°I want to see you try to cast spells now! Our mage can send mana fluctuations to destroy any and all the spells you have.¡± Silent Dream ran away towards the central park where there were more people after noting the fact that this act of cowardice would match that of a Soul Wraith. Now complete with the full team, the Bloody Hands began to give chase to see her holding another hostage. The boy was already crying. ¡°You p*ssy. Stop lugging hostages all over the place. Fight like you mean it!¡± Lilagord did not take the action very well and got incredibly pissed. ¡°I want you guys to go one at a time. I don¡¯t find this fai---.¡± ¡°Why the f*ck do you deserve fairness? You¡¯re literally a goddamn monster.¡± ¡°Ufufu, well you don¡¯t have a choice¡­ This little boy or a 1v1¡­ I already know what you have chosen. Pick my opponent for me.¡± Dream kissed the boy before anyone could say anything. ¡°You see? He¡¯s been soul marked. If anyone other than the chosen fights, this boy dies¡­¡± ¡°What stops you from using him again if you are losing, then?¡± ¡°Nothing! But you¡¯ve got no choice with your paladin¡¯s justice, no? This is the natural advantage of a villain, right?¡± Silent Dream grinned. ¡°You motherfu---.¡± ¡°Captain, let me go.¡± Thysias interrupted Lilagord. ¡°I can interrupt her magic and cast my own spells. I can easily beat her.¡± ¡°Y-yes, okay you go ahead.¡± Lilagord reluctantly agreed. Silent Dream smiled, having already played out the fight. [Preparation [Mind Shatter; Duration: 30 seconds] ] It was immediately cancelled out by Thysias. ¡°Haha, you one-trick pony! Why don¡¯t you try a different spell, hmm? Maybe it¡¯ll work next time, right? Come on, come on, come on. Keep it going!¡± ¡°Keep going? Indeed, I¡¯ll keep going¡­hehe, I-i, ahhhhaha. Hahaha.¡± Silent Dream began to blush to the confusion of Thysias. Dream began to giggle erratically and put her hand to her face. ¡°Oh my¡­ How ill-mannered of me¡­¡± She pointed out one finger from her other hand. [Preparation [Mind Shatter; Duration: 60 seconds] ] [Preparation [Mind Shatter; Duration: 60 seconds] ] Silent Dream immediately prepped out two spells. And another one. And another one. And another. As soon as Thysias blocked one spell, five more came out. One minute? No, 5 seconds was all that was needed. Dream was looking for a beautiful face. She was waiting for it. A false sense of hope would guarantee it. That was the purpose of giving more time. Then, it happened. Thysias began to give a look of despair. Her whole face pale from overuse of mana, there was no chance for hope. She was barely standing and could only watch in absolute despair. Less than 10 seconds had passed and there was sure to be already 80 spells hiding within the menacing aura.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Ohhh¡­¡± Silent Dream began to pant. ¡°Beautiful¡­ Let me touch it. Ohhh¡­ So hot¡­ Down there...¡± [Cast [Instant Teleportation] ] It was to be noted that teleportation was not a skill of a Soul Wraith, though no one really paid attention to note it. Silent Dream appeared right before Thysias and began to caress the face. Dream simply was unable to control her desires. Her inner sadism dominated her consciousness as long as there was a victim. A victim suffering despair. She relished the feeling as she had done so many times everyday since she had come to the kingdom. In fact, her illusions were already flickering, though it was immediately held back up by Pandora¡¯s assistance before anyone could notice. ¡°Waii---.¡± ¡°Shhhh.¡± Silent Dream pushed Thysias¡¯ face towards Lilagord by grabbing the neck. ¡°She¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t she? Just looking at it¡­ Anhhh¡­ I could¡­ I could¡­ I can barely stop myself from doing it.¡± On the other hand, Lilagord and her teams were completely disgusted. Thysias, unfortunately, didn¡¯t even have the right to be. Meanwhile, Pandora was lying on her front with her legs twirling around in the air and grinning as she watched the spectacle from above with Kindred¡¯s clone. ¡°Stop! Please¡­ Let go of my friends. They¡¯ve done nothing¡­¡± Thysias used all her strength to speak. ¡°Ufu? Then, I¡¯ll just kill you, okey? I¡¯ll preserve your beautiful face and carry it with me. Anhh, wouldn¡¯t that be amazing¡­¡± Dream continued to rant on. She paused for a second. A brief flicker of consciousness ran through her eyes, putting out her abnormal sadistic face like water to a fire. She smiled. She began to count down. ¡°6¡­¡± ¡°Stop, please, cancel the spells. Kill me. I¡¯m the captain¡­¡± Lilagord interjected. To their disappointment, Dream refused to be interrupted. ¡°5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­¡± [Cast [Illusion: Spell: Obliterate] ] As soon as she reached two, a fireball, small but deadly, appeared right behind her and exploded. [Cast [Instant Teleport] She was ¡°obliterated into nothingness¡±. A masked man from behind her then produced a Soul Wraith core from within the smoke. Obviously, this was Kindred. After the smoke dispersed, the man walked towards the pale Thysias and began to carry her on his back. Nobody moved as they couldn¡¯t process what had just happened. ¡°Are you okay, Thysias?¡± ¡°Y-yes. Haha, thanks to you, that is. I¡¯m indebted to you.¡± Thysias replied in an incredibly feeble voice. ¡°No, no, no. I just did my duty as a fellow adventurer, haha.¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­how m-modest of you¡­¡± She gave a smile. It was at this point that Lilagord and the others ran towards her with teary eyes. They asked for the OK from Thysias and also thanked Kindred, the usual. ¡°I¡¯m incredibly sorry. I hadn¡¯t listened to your advice and underestimated your prowess. Please. Do visit us whenever you have time. Again, thank you for saving our teammate.¡± Lilagord bowed towards Kindred before handing him a piece of paper with her address. The rest also bowed and exchanged formalities with Kindred.. Lilagord looked at Kindred¡¯s ring and threw a little trinket into Kindred¡¯s hands. ¡°I think this will help warrant the killing of the Soul Wraith, as I see you are an underestimated white-rank¡­¡± Kindred stuffed it into his pockets and left the scene. So did another shadow, who wished to speak with him. Right after that, Lilagord jumped up to the building where Pandora was. Pandora was back at her fragile appearance. ¡°Please. Come with us. Let¡¯s have a good rest. I¡¯m sure today has been very traumatizing for you.¡± Lilagord sympathetically whispered. Pandora nodded weakly before being carried off princess style by a 10 year old looking girl. Now was the time for the news of a fragile beauty and an incredibly powerful white-ranked adventurer to spread. Kindred walked to a dark alley and continued to do so until reaching the dead end. He stood and waited. ¡°Captain, how are we going to connect Pandora to the Thenada Kingdom?¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh¡­ I didn¡¯t see you there, Diabolos¡­¡± Kindred did not turn around and began to feel the stone wall. ¡°You jest.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ You can tell Pandora to introduce herself to the elf¡¯s team as a noble of Thenada Kingdom. You can make it convincing with some rewards.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Also¡­ no¡­ Oh, yes¡­ Why don¡¯t you rush there with some of these low-level guards. Make it seem Pandora snuck out of your sight¡­¡± Kindred tossed a low-tier storage crystal. ¡°Yes.¡± Diabolos bowed before leaving. Kindred pulled out the trinket. He finally took a good look at it. It was a slender hand. The fingers were put out and very relaxed. A beautiful piece of handiwork. Well, as far as a severed hand could get. Connecting the dots¡­ Fame¡­ Royal ball¡­ Emperor Verinas¡­ How will it all be put together? Pandora felt like eating. Except, eating for a vampire was drinking blood. That was one issue. The second issue was the fact that she was to pretend to have lost all appetite due to her trauma. Here she was, surrounded by a group of female warriors at a small diner , all eating like wolves. It was an incredibly awkward atmosphere for her, especially when the others ushered her to eat. She politely declined, not knowing what else to do. That is until¡­ [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: Introduce yourself as a noble of Thenada Kingdom. I¡¯m going to burst open the doors with Captain¡¯s maids in a few minutes.] ] [Silent Message [Diabolos of Mordekor: Aii.] ] ¡°Ahem, thank you for helping me¡­¡± Pandora started off. ¡°Ahaha, no problems. As that man from before had said, it was our duty to save you!¡± Lilagord immediately replied. ¡°Ehehe¡­ I¡¯ll just introduce myself¡­ I am Lydia Siglai of Then---.¡± The bulky woman interrupted, with her mouth still full of food, ¡°Nice to meet you, Lydia. I¡¯m Tieria, warrior of the Bloody Hands.¡± Another woman elbowed Tieria at the waist, clearly angry after Tieria did not even flinch. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Miss Siglai. Pardon, my friend¡¯s lack of manners. My name is Laerys, support of the Bloody Hands. Do continue on.¡± ¡°Y-yes. I¡¯m Lydia Siglai of Thenada Kingdom and direct descendant of the House of Siglai.¡± They all suddenly paused wolfing down food and stared at Pandora. ¡°Wait, what? Siglai? You¡¯re a noble?¡± Lilagord could not help but ask. ¡°Eh, ha, y-yes. I was trying to enjoy the empire without my guards so I sneaked away by buying some commoner clothes while pretending to go to the bathroom. Now, I¡¯m lost¡­¡± ¡°...¡± It was at this moment that Diabolos, who was listening into the conversation, decided to barge in. A couple dozen guards also spilled into the little diner. ¡°Miss Siglai, we have finally found you! Lord Siglai and Lady Siglai are incredibly worried about your absence. You can do whatever you want, but you must have guards at your side at every moment. How could you try to sneak away?¡± Diabolos blurted out. ¡°Oopsies! I got lost¡­¡± Pandora giggled. ¡°And, I can¡¯t believe it! You, you, you. We¡¯ve already heard that you¡¯ve almost died to the empire¡¯s recent Soul Wraith. Don¡¯t you understand how dangerous it is to be alone? There are murderers and rapists here too! Thank god that the Bloody Hands and that man had come to your rescue! You are incredibly lucky! Have you thanked them yet?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I didn¡¯t get to thank the man, but I think I¡¯ve already shown my gratitude to them.¡± Pandora pointed at Lilagord. Diabolos sighed. ¡°My utmost gratitude for protecting our miss. Here¡¯s some pure gold. As a reward, of course. In fact, my lord has already invited you whenever it pleases you.¡± Diabolos walked over to Lilagord and handed over some gold bars made from melted World coins. ¡°No, no, no. We did nothing to deserve this! We did what was expected of us!¡± Lilagord waved her hands in dismissal. ¡°No, I insist. Please! It would make my lord incredibly guilty to not reward the people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others. Accept this measly gift, please.¡± Diabolos pushed it into Lilagord¡¯s hands. ¡°Y-yes. Well, thank you! This is more than enough! Probably enough to make us fully indebted to you, now, haha.¡± Lilagord remarked. ¡°You jest. Nothing is worth more than the protection of our miss.¡± ¡°Haha. Miss Siglai, make sure to visit us tomorrow! We¡¯d love your presence, if that would be okay.¡± ¡°Most definitely, right, Goren?¡± ¡°I would assume so¡­¡± ¡°Heehee, okay! Let¡¯s go! See you tomorrow!¡± ¡°Yeah! See you tomorrow!¡± Diabolos escorted Pandora out of the diner and the other guards left after a slight bow to the Bloody Hands. After the whole company was out of earshot, Lilagord muttered to the others, ¡°How scary! Even a minor noble¡¯s daughter has so many tier 30 guards.¡± The others replied in agreement. After finishing their meal, they also left. Ok, Sh*ts Happening RN Okay, so I''m adding some new things to the plot cuz an hour ago, my mind went like *boom* "that''s something I should add." So now, I''m trying to add a chapter in the middle so I''m going to move a bunch of sh*t. Prologue''s almost done, but my new chapter has not been started yet. Soooo.... time.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I''ve effectively slightly changed the plot with someone''s advice (yeah, the same guy). Extra characters: rigjaeprivmqpeojrg pqrojgvpqrejgmpqoegvpqoerjgvpoqejmgpqe Chapter 10 Chapter 10 - Ilaphaykos ¡°Your Majesty, the recent Soul Wraith has finally been defeated.¡± A man calmly stated under the feet of another man. ¡°That¡¯s fantastic!¡± ¡°Indeed it is, Your Majesty.¡± ¡°Who killed it? Was it the Bloody Hands, again?¡± ¡°Apparently not, Your Majesty. It was a white-ranked adventurer. The guild has informed that he had registered yesterday. He also claimed right off the bat that he wished to defeat the Soul Wraith. ¡± ¡°Hmm? A white-ranked adventurer? So the Soul Wraith was actually really weak?¡± ¡°... No, Your Majesty, the man had just registered as an adventurer. However, he is much more powerful. Thysias of Bloody Hands lost to it even though she is an expert on magic.¡± ¡°Ohhh! I see!¡± Staurakios Verinas tapped at his chin, ¡°Why don¡¯t we recruit him as a royal guard, then? If he¡¯s new, he won¡¯t be attached to the adventurer system, right? We can persuade him to be my guard for life with money before a paladin mindset kicks in!¡± ¡°A wise analysis, Your Majesty. Your servant will promptly do so.¡± The man nodded. ¡°Thank you, Raverel.¡± ¡°This is only expected of your humble advisor.¡± Raverel left the throne room. ¡­ Before long, Raverel had returned and knocked on the door. ¡°You can enter!¡± Verinas exclaimed. ¡°Your Majesty, I have already called attention towards recruiting the adventurer. Now, there is one last subject regarding the incident. According to the Bloody Hands, one of the hostage-victims was a noble girl by the name of Lydia Siglai from Thenada Kingdom from the House of Siglai, a minor, but relatively powerful, noble family. What do you wish to do with this¡­ girl.¡± ¡°Hmm? A girl? Hehe, is she pretty?¡± ¡°...My subjective opinions are not worthy of your attention, Your Majesty. Perhaps, we can arrange a meeting of some sort for you to confirm her beauty with your own sight.¡± ¡°That would be great! I was thinking of, heehee, of¡­¡± ¡°As expected of Your Majesty. I will immediately act accordingly to your wishes.¡± ¡°Oh, come on, everything looks fine. We¡¯re ready. Definitely. We don¡¯t need to add anything else. You¡¯re going to make it look like a party house more than a real throne room.¡± ¡°One more thing...there.¡± Hecate fit a bouquet of bone flowers in a little pocket in the walls. ¡°Ok. We¡¯re done here. Let¡¯s go!¡± Seth began to drag his sister up towards the exit. ¡°Why are you in such a hurry? I just finished! We should enjoy what we just did. Look at our work. Isn¡¯t it beautiful?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to go the empire? I¡¯m sick of being stuck here. We already told Kindred that we would be going today!¡± ¡°Today doesn¡¯t mean now¡­¡± ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s just go now!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Seth and Hecate allowed the border guards to do whatever that was necessary to get in. They were patted down, though they had no bags to check. After being given the OK, they entered as any other person should¡¯ve. ¡°Why the hell didn¡¯t the others literally just go in normally?¡± ¡°I dunno. I mean, I guess it¡¯s ¡®cause we didn¡¯t bring anything. They have bunch of random sh*t in their bags?¡± Seth shrugged. ¡°Yeah¡­ Kindred brought a ton of crystals from what I¡¯ve heard. Don¡¯t know what he even needs to summon in this tiny ass place. Even the nearby Kingdom is much more powerful than this place.¡± ¡°Che. Heard that the emperor is just 18. Snotty brat that got power from his dad.¡± ¡°Well, it justs helps us. Pandora gets an easy job.¡± ¡°I bet. Anyway¡­ where¡¯s the cult?¡± ¡°Seth! Respect the religious! For all we know, they practice respectable religions in order to attract people.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Pff. Where¡¯s it?¡± ¡°I think¡­ there.¡± Hecate pointed in the direction of the main church. ¡°Huh? That¡¯s a f*cking poor-ass house! If it¡¯s there, it gotta be a cult or some sh*t, you can¡¯t even argue with me here.¡± ¡°No! You idiot! Holy sh*t, how retarded are you? Just use the blueprint! F*cking use your brains.¡± Hecate vigorously tapped at her forehead. ¡°Whoooooshhhhh.¡± Seth waved his hand over his head and just began to move towards the direction Hecate had just pointed in. She sighed in exasperation before following him. Seth knocked at the ornate door blocking the entrance to the incredibly large church. A man answered after a few minutes of clearly heard stumbling. ¡°Hello? I¡¯m sorry, we¡¯re closed right now. It¡¯ll open tomorrow morning!¡± An old and frail voice sounded out. Hecate motioned Seth to be silent. ¡°Hello, fellow speaker of truth. I wish to converse with the Pope. Pope Theodosius. Tell him my name. He¡¯ll know me. My name is¡­ Jeanne. Jeanne D¡¯Arc.¡± Hecate thought of a name on the top of her head. Without looking behind her, she already knew the looks of Seth¡¯s face. She was incredibly tempted to just say that she panicked. ¡°M-my apologies. I do not have the authority to address to the Pope. I will try my best to report over to a higher-up who is able to speak to the Pope.¡± ¡°That would be for the best.¡± ¡°Please wait a moment.¡± Another series of stumbling occurred before it was silent once again. Seth whispered. ¡°Joan? Seriously? And you call me the retard? Jesus.¡± Hecate did not bother to reply, mainly because she had none to give out anyway. Dozens of minutes later, an even older voice rang out. ¡°Jeanne of Arc.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You claim to know the pope?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Have you been enlightened to his chosen name?¡± ¡°... Yes.¡± Hecate crossed her fingers that he wouldn¡¯t ask for the name. ¡°I see¡­ Jalon, see your way out of hearing range.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± One of the men shuffled around and left. ¡°I would like your partner to also move away, lest he also knows of the name.¡± The man continued after pausing for a minute. Hecate clenched her fist. Ahhhh, f*ck, he¡¯s gonna. He¡¯s gonna. ¡°Of course. My subordinate has no right in hearing His Holiness¡¯ true name¡­ Please leave.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Seth made audible noises to signal his departure in case the man was slightly deaf from age. He walked away. ¡°Tell me His Holiness¡¯ name.¡± The man straightforwardly asked. Hecate began to sweat. ¡°... I wish not to disclose his Holiness¡¯ chosen name to those who can¡¯t prove their own enlightenment.¡± ¡°... Indeed. Pardon my rashness.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Then¡­ what would supply genuine enlightenment towards His Holiness¡¯ name?¡± ¡°Give me alternate letters and I¡¯ll fill in the rest.¡± ¡°That would not suffice for your own proof. How about the other way around?¡± ¡°The same would be applied to you, no?¡± ¡°I see¡­ indeed. Very well, I will give you alternate letters first. The first letter would be S¡­ then E¡­ A¡­ I¡­ H.¡± The man slowly pronounced each letter. Hecate was beginning to become drenched in sweat. Now was the thoughts of regrets. F*ckkk, why didn¡¯t I learn some mind control like the rest. S...E...A...I...H. What the f*ck. He might not even be giving the right letters as a test¡­ Well, that¡¯s the 50/50 I should go for, not guessing the actual name. ¡°...I believe that those are incorrect letters. I was enlightened with a different name. Perhaps you are mistaken?¡± ¡°Pardon me?¡± The man spoke after a significant moment of silence. Hecate began to swear inside. ¡°I have been enlightened with a different name¡­¡± ¡°Impossible. Pope Theodosius has personally supplied his true name to me along with the fact I was enlightened by Ilaphaykos herself.¡± The man raised his voice considerably. If Hecate could¡¯ve sweat any faster, she would¡¯ve. ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m mistaken? Pardon me. I must have been unfaithful to Ilaphaykos to be misinformed. Excuse me. I hope I¡¯ll reach His Holiness¡¯ true name after proving my faith.¡± Hecate turned around and began to leave. ¡°Wait. My apologies. It was a test. Indeed, I have supplied false information. May my sin be forgiven in the pursuit of truth.¡± Hecate sighed in relief inside. ¡°Yes, may your sin be forgiven. However, I solemnly plead you not to play with such sinful trickery.¡± Hecate could¡¯ve stretched it. She could¡¯ve pushed the idea that the man didn¡¯t know the name and was testing various names on her. She thought about it for a moment but decided against it. ¡°Indeed. The true letters are T, A, D, and U.¡± Hecate thought for a moment. First one that comes to mind is Thaddeus. Is Ilaphaykos related to Christianity¡­ dunno¡­ I¡¯ll go for it. ¡°That would match Ilaphaykos¡¯ message to me. I¡¯ve been enlightened with the name, Thaddeus.¡± ¡°...That would be correct. Please wait a moment. I will summon the Pope who can meet you after lunch, assuming he recognizes your name. I hope you will return by then.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Hecate suddenly felt her heart drop when she realized that the Pope may not even have any recognition towards the name Jeanne. Well, Thaddeus is Christian. Come on. She breathed in. ¡°May Ilaphaykos be with you.¡± ¡°May Ilaphaykos be with you.¡± During the whole conversation, the ornate door separated each other from seeing any faces other than those etched into the wood. After it all ended, Hecate stood there a bit longer. She studied the whole building. Almost immediately, her eyes widened. Hecate left and quickly joined with Seth who was waiting at a bar. ¡°Hey, hey, hey! Seth! You can¡¯t drink!¡± ¡°Chilllllll! I¡¯m just waiting here, you worrywart. Anyway! How did it go?¡± ¡°Uhh...hehe¡­ I¡¯m hoping the Pope knows my name. If so, we can meet him after lunch.¡± Hecate immediately turned the conversation into only private whispers. ¡°...You¡¯re placing your bets on a name that you thought of right off the top of your head?¡± ¡°...Yeah.¡± ¡°Want me to just pull some strings?¡± ¡°I was considering to ask you. But, the whole building was full of anti-magic barriers. I swear, it¡¯s incredible! We¡¯re messing with real sh*t. The worst part was that they were concealed. Our guardians and maids couldn¡¯t even spot it.¡± ¡°W-wait, what? Who¡¯s in Chirenth Empire again?¡± ¡°Kindred¡¯s maids, Dream, and I think¡­ just Abundance. The rest are in Thenada.¡± ¡°So¡­ Pearl couldn¡¯t find it even though she¡¯s an anti-magic specialist?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s scary¡­ What rank was the nullifier?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Pandora smacked her lips. ¡°Waaaah, Laerys, it tastes amazing!¡± ¡°Heehee! Glad you like it. I¡¯m sure your royal meals are much better though!¡± ¡°Haha. This is just as good! Domova! Try some!¡± Pandora passed a bowl of miso soup to Diabolos. ¡°Thank you. Miss Siglai. And Miss Laeyrs.¡± ¡°Gee, stop it. You¡¯re embarrassing me. It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Che. Be a bit more proud of your creations, Laerys! Hahaha.¡± Tieria patted the little support on the back with a loud smack. A bit on the rough side, if one may add. The others laughed along. She began to turn red. ¡°Excuse me. I need to go the bathroom¡­¡± Laerys murmured. To her disappointment, it only prompted more hearty laughs from everyone. She left the room, leaving a practically noticeable aura of heat. [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: I¡¯ve gotten the emperor to meet ya. Find a way to get to Juniper Spice. It¡¯s the fancy restaurant that¡¯s near the palace. I think it¡¯s the equivalent of a three star Michelin restaurant. So¡­ fun.] ] [Silent Message [Kindred of Mordekor: Heehee. How¡¯d you do it?] ] [Message [Pandora of Mordekor: Magic. I tried to make it simple, but meh. This restaurant will still do the job.] ] [Message [Diabolos of Mordekor: Hey, hey. I need to leave this place. Say something¡­] ] ¡°Miss, we have a busy schedule and cannot afford to stay here, not to mention that you are burdening the heroes here.¡± ¡°Haha, it¡¯s fine! We¡¯re having fun here. She¡¯s not burdening us, right?¡± Lilagord smiled. The others laughed in agreement. ¡°I¡¯m sure my miss is. Do excuse us.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ Domova. G¡¯bye, Lilly!¡± Pandora kept a cheerful smile. They exchanged conversations for a bit longer before Pandora was finally left alone with Diabolos. ... ¡°So¡­ what¡¯s happenin¡¯ now?¡± Diabolos casually asked. ¡°A nice lunch, that¡¯s what¡¯s happening.¡± Chapter 11 Chapter 11 - I. Am. Staurakios Verinas. ¡°I wish to see my little boy.¡± ¡°I would assume you would know the way, milord. Tea?¡± ¡°Green.¡± The masked man swiftly entered the house and went to a specific room. A room labelled ¡°Study Room¡±. ¡°Ahhh, if it isn¡¯t my dear lil¡¯ boy, Euphoria.¡± The man removed his mask to reveal a slight smirk. ¡°Ahaha¡­¡± Euphemia smiled in a gentle, but slightly hostile manner. Perhaps, he was also slightly upset about how demeaning his boss was being. ¡°How¡¯s your plan going? I¡¯ve given you what¡­ a day or two?¡± Kindred went straight to work. ¡°Yes¡­ I have a rough outline. So, it¡¯s going well.¡± ¡°Care to explain it to me?¡± ¡°Ahahaha...Yes¡­ Just a second¡­ I have written it down. Let me get it¡­¡± Sigurd stalled for time simply because he hadn¡¯t really focused on it. A day of celebration here, a nice walk there. Or a little political work here, and some meeting there. It was procrastination at the finest. ¡°I insist. You can just tell me the rough outline. Here, I¡¯ll bring out some of my men. You are free to choose!¡± ¡°That would be perfect, milord. When will you come back? I will be sure to prepare for it next time!¡± ¡°I have them right here. We¡¯ll trade right here. You give me your plan, and I¡¯ll give you a sample of my men.¡± Kindred folded his arms and leaned against the door, not allowing Sigurd to go anywhere. ¡°Huh?¡± Sigurd cocked his head in confusion and also in panic for what was in store for him. Kindred pulled out a few crystals from inside his cloak and set them on the table. [Summon [Storage Crystal] ] Out popped a few undead. Shadow assassins, to be exact. Completely covered by a tattered cloaks, anyone could misidentify them as a street beggar. However, inside the hood, it was the incarnation of death. That was also how they killed. A forced glance. Eye contact lifted the soul out of the body. They fed on soulless bodies. As expected, Sigurd, a clean, protected noble, could not handle their frightening presence and screamed. Kindred immediately covered Euphemia¡¯s mouth and whispered in his ear. ¡°They smell fearrrr.¡± Perhaps on queue, all the hooded undead cocked their heads towards Sigurd. This resulted in another muffled shriek. ¡°Hey, hey. Don¡¯t scare our little friend. He might be requiring your assistance later on. Maybe you should get to know each other, whaddya say, Euphoria?¡± Kindred gave a mocking smile. ¡°Ahehehe, I-i think I¡¯ll p-pass.¡± Sigurd chuckled slightly. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll tell you what they are. You don¡¯t want to make bare eye contact. That¡¯s how they kill. And then they eat your body! Isn¡¯t it fascinating? People always talk about ¡®if looks could kill¡¯, but this is a real monster capable of killing with a glance. Sooo, you want it?¡± Kindred wrapped his arm around Sigurd¡¯s shoulder and extended one arm out, as if telling a story. ¡°W-what else is there?¡± ¡°So, that¡¯s a no? Heh, that¡¯s fine. Here¡¯s my next one. I¡¯d say it only gets more ugly though.¡± [Summon [Storage Crystal] ] This time, there were miscellaneous creepy-crawlies. They began to squirm on the table. Sigurd instantly paled. ¡°No, no, no. I think I¡¯ll pass on this one. No. Definitely. Please. Put it away. I don¡¯t want it!¡± ¡°Ufu, you sure?¡± Kindred gave a whistle and the various creatures sorted themselves out. He grabbed one and and played with it.. ¡°You see this one? This is called a Jumping Sickness. If it bites you, it injects a sh*t ton of baddy bacteria. You¡¯ll definitely die an agonizing death. Well, I think 8th tier healing will numb the pain. I can give you...what...maybe five hundred? Sounds good?¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°No, no, no. Ahaha, I¡¯ll have the shadow assassins. I think they are perfect. Really.¡± Kindred cocked his head in mock confusion. ¡°You really really sure? I mean¡­ this one here is a Nerve Tiger. Instant paralysis. This one¡¯s a Mind Worm. It will ki---.¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t want it. Put it away. Please. I¡¯ll take those.¡± Sigurd pointed at the shadow assassins. ¡°Okay then. Well, since I¡¯m done, it¡¯s your turn.¡± ¡°...Aha, yes. A rough outline. Outline¡­¡± Sigurd began to sweat. He emptily stared at Kindred, hoping that Kindred would bring up some more time. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Kindred shoved him onto the wall and grabbed him by the neck. ¡°Listen. Sigurd. Euphemia. You are dealing with the devil here. I will not tolerate your dilly-dallying. I hope I don¡¯t see you prancing around with your little friends next time. And you better hope so as well. Don¡¯t f*ck with me. I want to see you try to get away with it.¡± An intense aura of fire surrounded Kindred as he forcefully spit out all the words he thought as potentially threatening. In return, Sigurd truly paled in fright and crumpled onto the ground. ¡°Yes, yes, yes. I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t. Really. I won¡¯t. ¡°Che. You little f*cking b*tch. I want it¡­ tomorrow. The whole plan. If I find a hole, that hole will be also be in the middle of your stomach.¡± Kindred disappeared, after feeling satisfied with his intimidation. F*ck yeah, that was pretty sick. Sigurd remained pale on the floor, unable to move a single inch. A bit later, the butler came in with tea, though he was unable to find his intended receiver. ¡°My lord, do you require medical attention? You are quite pale¡­¡± ¡°No. I am alright. Give me time¡­ Ask Charles to carry me to my bed.¡± ¡°Yes, excuse me.¡± ¡°Perhaps, you are wondering who I am, as a person willing to invite a guest to Juniper Spice, the most expensive restaurant in the empire.¡± ¡°Ahaha, yes. I am indeed very curious. A simple-dressed man invited me and I honestly had my doubts in coming here.¡± Pandora covered all but her eyes with a fan. ¡°Haha, my apologies for such a messy invitation. I shall introduce myself then, Lady Siglai of the Siglai House. I. Am. Staurakios Verinas. Emperor of the Chirenth Empire. A pleasure to meet you.¡± Staurakios stood up and bowed. Pandora answered with a feigned gasp and immediately bowed as well. ¡°Your Majesty, I did not expect to meet you. My apologies for such rudeness to Your Majesty. Truly, my utmost respect for one as yourself.¡± ¡°Please. Treat me like your kin. I will not stand such respect towards I. I have not proved myself as worthy for kingship, and should not be treated as one until I do so.¡± Staurakios rose and also helped Pandora up. ¡°You jest, Your Majesty. How could I demean a perfectly worthy king of the Chirenth Empire. I¡¯ve just been fascinated by your leadership¡­ ever since you¡¯ve received kingship.¡± Pandora barely avoided touching on Verinas¡¯ father. That would¡¯ve been a poor subject to bring up directly. ¡°Haha, yes¡­ ever since¡­ my father died,¡± Staurakios¡¯ eyes began to deaden resulting in Pandora¡¯s slight panic. Fortunately, he snapped out of his stupor and recovered, ¡°Ha¡­ let¡¯s think of more happy thoughts. I hope it didn¡¯t burden you.¡± ¡°Of course it didn¡¯t, Your Majesty. In fact, it is my fault to bring up such a taboo subje---.¡± ¡°No need. Let us have a seat.¡± Verinas brought up a smile, though it obviously didn¡¯t reflect his inner thoughts. (AN: Double meaning. Probs won¡¯t get it though. You¡¯ll get it later. Or if you did. F*ck. Stop getting it.) ¡°Ah, yes, let¡¯s.¡± Pandora bowed before following Verinas. A few personal guards followed next to them. ¡°Yes, a brew of Striped Ermine Dung fed of only Heart Sorrel.¡± Verinas waved off the waiter. (AN: Yes, dung as in poop. There is Panda Dung tea in real life. You can search it.) ¡°Of course. Excuse me.¡± An incredibly pretty girl served as their personal waitress. ¡°So, anyway, Miss Siglai, it is true that you were forced to endure the horrors of a Soul Wraith, correct?¡± ¡°Indeed. It was absolutely scary! Haha, fortunately, I fainted. I didn¡¯t experience that much because of it.¡± ¡°Oh? How amazing! Isn¡¯t that the beauty of the human body? A natural defense against fear, you could say!¡± ¡°Your Majesty thinks so as well? I¡¯ve always thought of it that way. We are truly blessed by evolution to have all these amazing traits by our side.¡± Pandora found a way to potentially connect. A similarity was all that it took, even if it meant lying. Not that Pandora wasn¡¯t use to lying. ¡°Evolution? What is this ¡®evolution¡¯ that you speak of? I have not been educated of this word. Is it a God of some sort? Like Ilaphaykos?¡± Verinas cocked his head sideways and put his pointer finger to his mouth as if pondering its meaning. ¡°...Eh...yes. Your Majesty. That is a little word of Thenada Kingdom. It also just means God. No difference between evolution and God. They are the same thing.¡± ¡°Ohh! I see! I¡¯ve never heard of it before. Well, I guess you learn something new everyday!¡± ¡°Your Majesty is too humble.¡± ¡°Gee! Why can¡¯t you just drop the honorifics! Call me Staurakios! I swear this is no test.¡± ¡°...Ok...Stau-rak-i-os. ¡± Pandora slightly shut her eyelids to show an expression of hesitation. ¡°See? You can do it!¡± Verinas cheered. ¡°...Ha...ha.¡± Pandora continued on her awkward expression with a cute look. ¡°Tea.¡± The girl arrived with two cups and a kettle on top of her serving tray. She placed the two cups down next to each of her two guests before readying to pour. However, right when she was to begin pouring the tea, she was interrupted. Holding his hand out and smiling, Verinas calmly said, ¡°Allow me.¡± The girl nodded and left the kettle next to him. ¡°Tea?¡± ¡°Yes, please.¡± Verinas strided around the table and poured tea for Pandora. He also purposefully touched her shoulder with his own. Pandora ¡°blushed¡± and smiled. He proudly smiled before returning back to his seat and poured for himself. While Verinas took a sip, his pinky was raised. This could mean many different things. It could just be a sign of elitism. It could also be a signal to question Pandora about her potential sexual diseases. Of course, it could simply mean that Verinas was an ignorant person who copied his ignorant father who copied his... la-da da-da. Pandora made an easy decision. She also raised her pinky. In any case scenario, it would be a gesture that would get her closer to the emperor. She waited for something. A change in expression of some sort. He smiled. ¡­ It couldn¡¯t be any vaguer.