《The Seven Deadly Sins》


 Chapter 0: Prologue

    The war that has started over fifty years ago has just ended two days ago. The allies, consisting of the High and Dark elves, the Humans, the Beasts, the Dwarves and the Barbarians have won, but at what cost.


    Only dead bodies lay over for as far as human sight can see. Men are still burning corpses. The smell in the air is putrid and noxious. Many men, elves, beast and dwarves could be seen vomiting what¡¯s left of their breakfast and some don¡¯t even have anything else to regurgitate. Last thing they want is diseases from the rotten corpses.


    So many death, cities are destroyed, including the capital of the elves, humans and dwarves, even some humans kingdoms were annihilated. The only reason why the beasts didn¡¯t lose their capitals is that their territories is divided into tributes consisting of foxes, tigers, wolves, bears, eagles, serpents and elks. So they don¡¯t have one big capital. The barbarians are also untouched because the demons didn¡¯t cross their borders and even if they would have, the demons would only have found small tributes near oases and a ¡°capital¡¯ being only a slave market.


    In the different cities around the continent of Elodora, women are crying from the loss of their husbands and sons, the surviving men that are not on duty try to repair what has been damaged. There are no kids running in the streets and no happy merchants selling their products. Even if they have won the war, the loss is too much for them feast. At night the men that survived couldn¡¯t help but drink until they forget those awful memories.


    The race that comes up with the most loss is definitely the humans. Well no wonder, the demons have started their invasion from the north-west were most humans kingdoms are... were.


    The Demons were looking for something, or someone but no one knows what. Some say it must be some kind of loss treasure, some say it was only for slaves but no one can really back up their hypothesis. They only know that they pushed them back before they got what they wanted since the demon lord looked mad when his army fled away from the slaughter they were facing. Since they were pushed back at the border of the desert and beast territories it means that what they were looking for is probably in the desert. They didn¡¯t take the lands, they wanted the slaves. Slaves to dig and explores those dark dungeons. But what could possibly worth millions and millions of lives? It is a question that no one can answer.


    If the estimates are corrects the overall population of Elodora has been cut in half. It could have been worst though; since around fifteen years after the war had started the oracle appears, uniting all the races to face the danger. No one really knows where he came from or what race he belongs to, but a fact is certain: without him it would have been a complete annihilation. The funny thing is that he never really has predicted anything¡­ Until today.


    "For those who don''t know me, I am the Oracle" a voice in the head of everyone on the continent proclaimed, stopping them from doing whatever they were doing.


    Most looked around them to see if they were going crazy but after seeing everyone with the same puzzled expression, they relaxed.


    "We have won. It is the time to cry for our people and rebuild what we have lost, to rebuild better and stronger. We have united against a common enemy and have won! It is the proof that all the races can work together and are not enemies. Let the past be the past and work together for a brighter future. I have to warn you though that in a thousand years he will be back, with more forces."


    Many faces went paler and paler, while others fall on their knees and some other start to cry. Even if most of them would be long dead before he comes back, it is still frightening.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He continues. ¡®¡¯Worry not for this time we will have a weapon. A weapon able to destroy our enemies"


    He paused for a moment to let it sink into everyone¡¯s brain. A weapon? What kind of weapon. As everyone is asking their selves the same question he continues.


    "Heroes. Heroes will be born with power equal to no one. They would be represented with the white star on the shoulder. For each race a hero will be born and if all seven of them work together, they would be able to defeat the Demon Lord and his armies."


    Some smiles disappear. Seven heh? A thought is running through everyone¡¯s mind: That is if the Dragooned help them. They didn¡¯t participate in the war. Saying it wasn¡¯t there fight and worst comes to worst they could just fly away or hide in the mountains. They are just lazy specie. Sleeping for months, even years some time and when they are not sleeping that are lazily hunting or bathing in the sun. The mighty dragooned are not what they were anymore. Even if they are descendant of dragons and can switch from human to dragon form, they are just a bunch of cowards.


    After he continues to explain a bit about the heroes, the Oracle just went on and on about how the different species should all work together and should not give up to the darkness but follow the path of light and righteousness.


    *North of Elodora*


    At the far north of the continent, in a large back and red tent, a man is sitting down on a throne made of black gold. The man releases an aura of darkness and just looking at him would make the weak heart die and even for some stronger ones it would take an effort to not lose consciousness. He has two black horns coming out of each side of his head and also two large wings on his back. Eyes and hair are also a pitch black fitting with his armor. Pretty much the only part not black was the blue emblem representing two moons crossed by a staff and a snow leopard. He is at least two heads taller than the average human with a body full of muscles. A body made for war. He is the Demon lord and is currently reading a letter sent by one of his spies in the human kingdom"


    "Oh... Seven heroes heh? Mhmm¡­ what to do?" The reason why he didn¡¯t hear the Oracle¡¯s voice is because the Oracle only talked to the non-demon species.


    Looking at the servants near the door he asked one of them to go fetch the general Idia.


    Five minutes later a girl looking around ten comes in. She has red eyes with long black hair covering half of her visage. She has a skin so white that one must wonder if she has not a disease. With a voice that doesn¡¯t sound at all like one of a ten years old girl should have, she asked: "My lord, you asked for me?" she says bowing down and kneeling on one knee.


    "Yes. You will stay on Elodora with fifty of your vampires. You have five years to bring me fifteen of the strongest women of the seven races. And please just be sure they don¡¯t look like an ogre and have a minimum of beauty"


    Surprised by the mission and even more by the last request, she nonetheless shows no hint of emotion and she agreed. "Yes my lord." Bowing one more time she left the tent. Happy with his idea and thinking about the fun he will have in a couple of years, a smile appears on his face while he goes back to his paperwork.


    Suddenly cold sweat starts to form on his back and makes him shuddering. "What was that?"


    *At the same moment our Maou sama shudders, far, far away in the north, in a particular castle*


    "HE ASKED FOR WHAT!?"

 Chapter 0: Prologue 2

    *At the same moment our Maou-sama shudders, far, far away in the north, in a particular castle*


    "HE ASKED FOR WHAT!?"


    A tall, beautiful, mesmerizing woman is walking in circle in the throne room. She has blue icy eyes and skin as pale as snow. She has long, beautiful and delicate fingers with two different rings, one on her wedding ring finger and the other on her thumb. The fingers are currently holding a long staff, made of a particular black wood with a blue gem on top of it which is emitting small light every time she starts to lose a bit of herself and starts yelling. She has a long blue robe fitting her eyes with some white gold forming an emblem of two moons, crossed by a staff and a snow leopard. To complete this angelic apparition she has two white wings fold on her back. With her long blond hair tie in a ponytail she could be describes as perfect, an angel from the sky. But every demon knows that she really is not so angelic.


    In front of her, a small servant no more than ten years old is almost crying from fear.  He had rarely seen the ice queen like this. After all, it was only his first week at her service. From the rumor he has heard about her, the last time she was that angry, half the people in the castle were turned into ice sculpture. And she waited a week before unfreezing them!


    "For fifteen women of e..."


    The ice queen turns and glares at him as if she would freeze him on the spot, "I know! I know! It was a rhetorical question! Damnit! A hundred and five woman! Oh oh oh¡­If he thinks he will get away with that!"


    *North of Elodora"


    Actually it does not take too long from Elodora to the Demon''s continent, also known as Sialkel. From ancient times, a portal was connecting Sialkel to Elodora and was open to everyone. Well, as long as you know the words to open it and know where it situated. It is one of the reasons why the people of Elodora weren¡¯t expecting an invasion. There are less than five people on the whole continent who knows about the portal and maybe none who knows how to open it and know the fact that there is actually another race on the other side.


    After the Demon Lord opens the portal and his army goes through it, they appear on a vast land, diminished of trees and animals, and around thirty miles from the ocean and two weeks at walking speed away from the capital.


    The planet Alperen has two moons, named after the two goddesses; Zarya and Pharah. When Zarya has done a complete orbit around the planet, it means that the month is ending. There is thirteen months with only a number to differ them (first month, second month, etc.). A month is 28 days. When Pharah completes her orbit, it means that the year is done and around 364 days have passed. Having two moons bring problems, meaning that the tides are a real pain in the ass and that the difference between low and high tides is thousands of feet. That is why no one lives near the ocean and that the vast planet of Alperen is mostly undiscovered.


    * Nyxos, capital of the Demons, two weeks later*


    A long, horrible and painful scream echoes in the night, coming from the castle. The two guards situated not too far away from the room where it comes from looks at each other not sure of what to do. At first, one may think that the sound comes from the dungeon or cells of the castle but no, it comes from the royal bedroom.


    Guard n1 looks at guard n2 hesitating to open the door. The screams clearly belong to their master, the Demon lord so they don¡¯t know if anything bad happened to him. With a few words of courage coming out from guard n2, guard n1 open slightly the door.


    Shuddering a bit, ¡°My lord, is everything alright?¡± While saying that he finished opening the door enough so he could look inside and what he sees terrifies him. The Demon Lord is on his four limbs with a stick of ice in his ass. No, it is not a stick, but rather a huge block of ice almost has twice has a baseball bat. Obviously the first thought he has in mind is how the hell it fits in and it is also his last thought. Seeing the guard standing there the Damon Lord invokes a black mist and beheads him. Guard n2 having no more answers from guard n1 walks in and the same fate as his buddy awaits him.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    The Demon Lord almost crying from the pain; ¡°No men should ever feel that pain. I am sorry dear, I just wanted what is best for our kingdom and make heirs to counter the heroes. Please forgive me, my beautiful ice queen¡±


    The Ice Queen looked at him with a death glare and with a voice colder than someone could imagine, ¡°You will sleep in the dungeon this week, and if it ever happens again it would be a month, then a year, and after that is castration.¡±


    Malek, almost as pale has the Ice Queen, is in shock and try to speak but nothing happened. After a few seconds he succeeds and mumbles ¡°I am sorry Naura it won¡¯t happen again¡±.


    Actually in their union, Naura has pretty much all the power while Malek could only go play soldier.


    Almost five years has passed and during this time, Malek and Naura have finalized their plans for their anti-heroes squad. Since there is no chance of Malek sleeping with the hundred and five women, he would use an old magic to inseminate them. The downside is that the women would not survived after that since it is dark magic and if not a demon it is pretty much a death guaranteed. Well it wasn¡¯t as if they would have kept the women alive after that anyway. At the same time, it will be the first trial. If the baby has not enough demon blood, it would die.


    After the first trial passed, the kids would be trained for ten years in combat, assassination techniques, poison, politics, manners, history, geography, medical studies and lot more. If the kids are too slow to understand the teaching by the different professors then it is death. The Demon Lords does not want any of his offspring to come back with vengeance or anything on similar years later. As matter of fact he would not be in contact with any of them so his judgment and emotions would not interfere with the trials. It would be classes of 20 kids mixed up randomly for the first five years. After the five years, they will be divided in different classes from problematic to advanced classes.


    On the first day of the first month of the 11th years, it would be a battle royal. Every kids of the same race would be release in a different area randomly. In the area, there would be medical and poisoned herbs. It would be a different climate so they would be test also on their survival instincts. It is a cruel, dark and inhuman way to do it, but it is the best method they have found. They want a strong, cruel, smart and decisive warrior, not a soft kid who doesn¡¯t want to hurt his ¡°friends¡±.


    Finally the day came where Idia enters the capital with her warriors and seven carriages full of women. The Demon Lords had explained parts of the plan to his people the day before.


    ¡°As a testimony of the long war, we would host a battle royal. It is simple; all the kids of the same races will compete until there is only one alive. The ones alive would have the honor to serve us¡±. When he finished his speech, every person presents, from vampire to succubus to arachnid to troll starts to cheer or grunts.


    The fifth day of the second month is where the plan Suicide Squad starts. Where a bunch of kids will go in a place where no one wants to, do things that almost no one can do and maybe to never return.


    The Demon Lord has no idea what the mixing of demon blood with every species¡¯ will cause so he has no choice but go with the time each specie usually takes to give birth. A human woman takes around 9 months to give birth and they are the faster one. The specie that takes the longest is the elves with 22 months, almost two years. To gives anyone the same chance the Demon Lord would obviously inseminate the elves first and then the beast all the way to the humans so every woman gives birth around the same time. Also, there is a High elf already pregnant. The kid should be born in a month or so and would be use has a slave.


    Two years later, without any complication from the demon blood, well at least for the birth rate, the babies are born. On the hundred and five babies seventeen died due to the demon blood, along all the women. 88 kids are left.


    992 years 10 months and 27 days before next invasion.


    Chapter 0: Prologue 2 also known as death of guard n1 and n2

 Chapter 001

    Hello guys, King_Frost here, just to let you know that i would try to post two chapters per week and if i have free time, it might be more. Also if you have any suggestion for names i would gladly look for it.


    Breeding a demon with another specie was something never done before, so the effect that it may cause on their bodies and the final result were unknown. Usually, depending on what kind of demon you are, the lifespan could go up to a hundred thousand years! It was especially true with the Demon Lord specie, being an Arch Demon. But, breeding an Arch demon and a human, who has an average lifespan of eighty years, may still result in the baby receiving his mother¡¯s genes. That is why only the babies with a high density of demon blood in their veins would be able to continue in the trials.


    A year pass and physical changes, due to the demon blood, start to appear on the now one year old kids. It wasn¡¯t much though, and these changes were only on present on a few barbarians, elves and humans kids. For some reason, the Dwarves, Dragooned and the Beasts didn¡¯t have any noticeable changes, yet.


    The barbarians are usually born with black tattoos on their back and on their arm (left arm for boys and right arm for girls) representing a tribal tattoo with their affiliation for their elemental magic.


    Elemental magic consists of air, water, fire, and earth. It was not the only known magic though. There are also chaos magic, used mainly by demons, nature magic, often used by elves, and metamorphosis magic, often used by the Beasts, Dragooned and some Demons.


    There are ten stages that go from Neo (being the basics of the basic) to the immortal stage. They are Neo¡ú apprentice¡ú basic¡ú medium¡ú advanced¡ú Teo (where it is possible to learn the second form of the elemental magic) ¡ú apprentice mage¡ú Mage¡ú arch mage¡ú immortal.


    After getting to the Teo stage, the person can learn the second form of their elemental magic. It goes as follow: Air ¡úLightning, Water¡ú Ice, Fire¡ú Magma and Earth¡ú Metal


    The Barbarians usually have black tattoos, but with the demon blood in their body it is now a dark blood red.


    The humans could be seen with longer nails and sharp fang. The elves have a darker skin, making the dark elves even darker, almost black.


    The most surprising effect though is that almost every kid already knows how to speak, to walk and to read. It was thus decided that the ones who couldn¡¯t achieve it by the end of the month would be eliminated.


    And thus the month ended and nine kids were eliminated. The real training has just begun. With 79 kids left, the Demon Lord decided to split them up in group of ten.


    All the kids would have their own place to stay within a family of demon. Their families will provide a family bond and also provide help if needed. It will help keeping their mental health has good as possible. The Ice Queen does not want for them to be complete sociopath were the only thing they know is competition, killing, training and studies. They need cold blood killer, yes, but if they are to lead their different countries, killing everyone is not the best way to achieve this. They need to work with others to achieve their plan, thus family bond to help them familiarize with others.


    For the next four years they would learn about politics, history, geography, herbalism, medical studies, survival techniques, manners and magic.


    *Four years later*


    At now five years old, their studies ended and it was now time for training. With the basics covered, it was time for them to learn about hand to hand combat, weapon mastery, assassination techniques and more advanced form of magic.


    During the last four years, some of them did better than others and they would be giving extra work to do so not too waste their potential. One kid in particular was succeeding in every subject. It looked so easy for him that is teachers were giving him even more special texts and homework to do. His name is Laz. The only problem with Laz is that he is pretty lazy, where the origin of his name.


    When there was no class, he would just lie down and bath in the sun, sleeping and sometime reading. He would also often be late at his first class because he overslept. Even with the consequences that it brought to him he just didn¡¯t care. They tried to motivate him with bribery, flattery and even special treatment but it never worked.


    What is surprising is that he is Barbarian. Usually his people are hard worker, simple and they are not considered as the most intelligent specie. He was a complete mystery. His instructors could of course guess why he is being lazy, being raised by a couple of Bajang, it is hard to turn out otherwise.


    The Bajang are a kind of vampire with the ability to take the form of a cat. It is the only vampire specie with the ability to stay in the sun for more than a few hours and they enjoy it. Most of the time they would just lay down and bath in the sun.


    Laz is taller than most of the kids due to his origin and could already pass for a 10 years old human. He has long silver hair tied in a warrior braid with silver eyes that gives the impression of looking in a mirror. His tribal red tattoo, on his left arm, forms an interesting pattern of lines intercrossing. He has a bronze-tan skin with black pants and a black sleeveless shirt. Overall, he could be considered as a pretty handsome five years old boy.


    What makes Laz a genius is not only that he is quick witted and good in his studies, but his achievements in magic. When most kids would have got to the basic stage either in chaos or elemental magic, he achieved this level in both. He is at basic level in air and chaos magic.


    In the top universities in Elodora, the youngest kid to breakthrough the apprentice level and get to basic level was six years old. But it was only in one type of magic; Laz is at basic in two types.


    Another strange thing about the boy is that he doesn¡¯t seem to have any friend. While most of the kids respect him due to his achievements, some only fear him, especially the other barbarian kids. They tried to bully him, but everything they do doesn¡¯t get the expecting results. When they insult him he goes back to his nap and when they tried to gang up on him he use strange magic that is neither air nor chaos magic to push them away or lock them in the air by their ankles.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Except his family there was only one person that Laz was friendly with. It was the now five years old elf slave that was born from the High elf women. While every demon was treating the slave has nothing more than shit, Laz was enjoying talking to him and teaching him what he had learned in school.  The slave having no name, Laz decided to name him Cameron, named after a great elf general in the last war. He was as smart as Laz so both of them became friends really fast. He was shorter than Laz by a head. He had short blond hair and two big blue eyes that were shining when he laughs and turned darker when he angry. He had a slave collar, no shoes and pointy ear proving his High Elf origins. He was not as handsome has Laz but quite close to. Probably only because he was wearing rags and his skin was so dirty that the high elf could have been considered a dark elf.


    Laz wasn¡¯t really happy with the treatment of his only friend, but couldn¡¯t really do anything since he wasn¡¯t supposed to befriend him. That is until the day that the nature magic inside Cameron awakens and a plan inside Laz¡¯s heads starts to take form.


    Before starting their training, the students had to take the test for every subject. If they were doing poorly and had less than eighty percent, they would have a second chance to do it, but if they fail again they were eliminated.


    After finishing his last test, Laz decided to starts its plan to make Cameron''s life a bit better. The first step was also the hardest one. He needed to have a chat with the Ice Queen. They were taught that only the seven survivors would be able to see the Demon Lord, but the Ice Queen wasn¡¯t mentioned. She actually came twice to see the progress of the kids, but none of the kids knew about that except Laz and it was only by pure chance.


    She came one day after school to talk with the magic instructor and since Laz was sleeping under the tree near the school, as most of the time, and was awoken by the icy air and suffocating aura she was emitting; he saw her. The strange thing is that when he woke up her aura changed and lessens. He was four years old at that time and for him it was as if he saw an angel. She was simply the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. When he was about to leave, he felt a gaze on him and when he looked back his eyes locked with  the icy eyes of the Ice Queen and for what felt like hours they only stares at each other. And with a long yawn he stopped the staring contest and left the place. Thinking back about this, it wasn¡¯t the most respectful way to leave the company of one of the strongest person in the world.


    "Bah... What can I do? I am still alive, it shouldn¡¯t have been so bad."


    Walking in the direction of one of the five instructors, Alexer, the one that teach demon magic and the instructor that Laz is the most close to, he looks back at the other students wondering why they were not done yet, completely obvious to the fact that only twenty five minutes went by and they still had more than ninety minutes to finish it.


    Alexei is a Rokurobuki, a demon that appears human, but can stretch his neck to unnatural lengths. It is pretty frightening and the first time he showed it to the class some had nightmares for weeks. His look though, doesn¡¯t fit with his demon side. He looks more like the sensei you can see in manga and anime. Old, white beard and white long hair, green eyes showing all the experience and knowledge he accumulate in his life and of course a walking stick.


    As the instructors watch him walking toward them, a surprise expression starts to form on Alexer¡¯s face. Not because it took less than thirty minutes for his student to finish the test but because last time he saw Laz with a serious face like this, he had blown himself up with the three students near him while experimenting on only god knows what.


    With a small smile on his face and a voice full of respect as if addressing to a king, Laz starts; ¡°Hello, professor, may I bother you with a selfish request of mine?"


    The instructor, taken back by his student''s unusual firm and respectful voice, only nod, not sure where this conversation is going.


    First, get their attention. In a psychological warfare, if the two parties are not on the same page, there is no way you could convince someone to change their opinion. Who would listen and take seriously a five years old kid. Sure, some of the kids are so mature it is quite frightening but from an adult point of view they are still five years old brats. So by being serious and getting their attention it is less likely they would just ignore you because of your age.


    "I would like to see the Demon Lord and the Ice Queen"


    Silence.


    After throwing this bomb all the instructors look at him in shock.


    "I do not think it is possible Laz, there are instructions given to us by the higher up and just wanted to see them it is not possible"


    Laz was expecting this answer.


    Second when you want to get something, a method to increase the odds of it being granted is to ask for something bigger than what you need and then when denied you lower your request to your actual goal, or maybe a bit lower. It is like when borrowing money. Sure, asking a friend fifty dollars they might accept, but if you ask for eighty first and then lower it to the fifty, at the same time acting as if you were ¡°losing¡± from the deal, they would be more willing to lend you that fifty dollars.


    "Of course, I do not want to see our majesties only by curiosity, but because there is a flaw in their plan. I also understand your concern and by thinking about it, only talking to the Ice Queen would be fine."


    "Mhmm"


    Third you need to lower the risk of your request and increase the advantages.


    "I do not wish for you to risk anything either. What about I give you a letter, with some of the information I want to give them and when she read it and if our majesty judge it to be valuable information then she can summon me for an audience?"


    The five instructors were silent and looking suspiciously at Laz as if trying to find anything wrong with his words.


    "Sure, I can give it to my nephew since he is a servant of the queen, but I can¡¯t promise she would accept the letter or read it."


    Not minding at all, Laz takes out a letter that looks like it appears from nowhere and gives it to him.


    "Thank you sir, I will be on my way then and wait for the good news"


    After a long yawn, his expression turns back to his usual sleepy face and starts to walk away, leaving the instructors dumbfounded.

 Chapter 002

    Hello ladies and gentlemen, it has been a while sorry, a friend came from the states to visit. Once again, if you spot any mistake or if you have any question/complaint that would help me creates a better story then comments! Do not hesitate!


    *Two days later, at the Royal Palace, in the throne room*


    "Majesty, you have received a letter from Alexei, one of the instructor teaching magic. He said that one of the kid gave it to him in the hope to get and audience with you" a servant, looking around twenty years old and with the same green eyes as Alexei spoke.


    "Weren¡¯t the rules clear enough? Why would he do that? Does he have a death wish? Give me the letter"


    "Naura I am not sure you should even read it"


    "Malek, if the instructor gave it to me there must be a reason"


    So she starts reading...and after a while "tsk, this kid is too smart for his age"


    Without even taking her eyes off the letter "Aaron, reschedule the audience with Malicia to tomorrow and send someone fetch the kid. I want to see him this afternoon"


    "Yes milady"


    "Naura! What are you doing! This is against the rules! What is in this letter, let me see."


    "Here"


    After he had finished reading the letter he looked at the Ice Queen with an incredulous look on his face. "Oh... interesting. Does he have a solution? Can¡¯t believe he is five years old"


    *Under a tree, outside of the city*


    Two men were walking shoulder to shoulder toward a huge tree. The tree is more than two thousand years and it is said it was plant as a guardian for the tomb of the last Fairy Queen and that the ones who dare hurt the tree will be hit with a curse worse than death. As such most people were avoiding this place. Well, most but not all because even from the distance the two men were, they could see a youth lying at its roots, sleeping peacefully.


    Standing now close to the youth, the old man clears his voice trying to get the youth¡¯s attention. Seeing that it doesn¡¯t work, he tries again but louder. The men to the left, red from anger of being ignored, gets closer in an attempt to wake him up.


    "Kid"


    "Kid"


    "KID"


    Finally awake, the kid looks at the two men. He didn¡¯t know the man that was yelling but recognized the old man being his instructor. Looking carefully at the unknown men he knew that he would be granted to audience.


    It is a man in his thirties, well what look like the thirties since most of demon are hundreds of years old, with long, lustrated hair, a long trimmed black beard, red eyes, a skin pale as snow and a black uniform with two moons crossed by a staff and a snow leopard, the royal emblem. Yep, a royal guard.


    "The Queen has received your letter and wishes to see you. Here is a token that would let you enter the royal palace. The audience is in five hours"


    "I will be there in time. Thank you."


    ¡°You better be. Or it may be the last mistake you ever make." On these warm and gentle words the guard turns away and leaves.


    The instructor looks at the other man leaving and when the latter is out of view, he let out a sigh while turning to speak to Laz. "Well kid..."


    But Laz is already back to the dream world. Desperate and angry Alexei starts to walk away


    "Tsk, that kid".


    Four hours later, I am standing in front of the Royal Palace with my jaw almost dropping on the ground.


    Since we were living at the outskirt of the city and are studying outside the city, we never saw the Royal Palace from close.


    It is a big, grey-ish and beautiful castle with gold columns crafted with different mythical beasts. The black wooden doors are giving a dreadful aura that gives an interesting contrast with the stairs made out of white marble. Rows of guards could be seen and none look anything close to a human. One could only imagine how powerful and rich the people inside are.


    After showing my token to what looks like a big ass spider, I was led to a waiting room, close to the throne room where I am guessing I would have to wait until the Queen summons me.


    While walking in the corridors, there were so many paintings, sculptures and arts that I couldn¡¯t even imagine what the rest of the castle must be like. One sculpture that particularly interested me was a large snow leopard with sapphire as eyes, which seem like following me every time I was moving. The sculpture was giving a similar aura to the Ice Queen and I wondered how it was even possible since it wasn¡¯t alive. The beast was so beautiful and majestic that it took me all my willpower to resist not kneeling in submission.


    After a while, a guard came out from a door opposite to which I came from and announced that I would be able to see the Queen. After a small briefing to explain the official manners to act in the presence of the Queen, I enter the throne room.


    The throne room, compared to my expectation was quite simple. There are banners on each side, once again representing different mythical beasts and on the walls I could see other paintings. In front of me there are a few stairs with a red fluffy carpet trimmed with gold that is leading to two huge thrones. The first one is a large black throne with white cushions on it and was made of what seems like bones of an unknown monster


    On the left of the first throne there is a small table with a chest board on it and then a second throne, as big as the first one but made of what looks like ice and with black cushions.


    That was on the ice throne that the Queen was sitting on, looking at some papers. She looks exactly as the last time I saw her except that now she is wearing a black and white robe and a black small crown that contrast with her pale skin. What was strange is that she wasn¡¯t giving off the same pressure that she did the last time. The air was still colder than usual but there wasn¡¯t the feeling of suffocation as if losing your breath.


    As I close the distance to the throne, I kneel down right before I reached the stairs, eyes to the ground and wait for her to speak first, as I was instructed.


    Facing the Queen, I couldn¡¯t help but feeling vulnerable. I knew that she could kill me in a matter of seconds if she wanted to. Rumors say that when she is pissed off she would just put you in an ice coffin to release you weeks or even months later, if she felt lenient. I wasn¡¯t willing to find out if it was true or not.


    Seconds becomes minutes and the Queen still didn¡¯t even give me a look yet.


    After what feels like an hour passed the Queen finally starts talking, "Mhmm good. Smart and have good manner!"


    As I looked up to see the Queen I realized that she wasn¡¯t there anymore.


    "Quite handsome too. A somewhat powerful aura for a kid of your age and I can sense that the amount of Demon blood in your veins is quite high. Oh already at the basic stage heh? Good, good!" said a cheerful voice behind him.


    I was astounded. Not only didn¡¯t she sound cold and cruel as her look implied but she also used teleportation, a spell that only those at the immortal stage should be able to use. "H...H...How? Wha¡­What?"


    Giving a rare smile she ignored his shutters. ¡°I have read your letter and I must say that I am quite surprised with your reasoning. We still didn¡¯t plan everything yet concerning the conquering of the kingdoms, but it is true that, as things are right now in the desert, it would be close to impossible to unite the tribes. There are only small oases and none that would allow more than a few hundreds of people. Being nomad also doesn¡¯t allow a strict control over the different tribes. So boy what is your solution?¡±


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Those eyes. I feel like they are looking into my soul. Never have I felt so small. Is that what it means to be in the immortal stage?


    ¡°That would be desert greening, my Queen.¡±


    ¡°Would you care to explain?¡± she asked, her voice being now a bit colder.


    Wow. I guess she doesn¡¯t like having to be taught by a five years old kid.


    ¡°If I¡­ If the barbarian that ends up winning the trial could not rule over all the small tribes, then the only solution is to build a place where all the tribes or most of them could reside together.¡±


    Seeing that the Queen is about to object, I just continue.


    ¡°You are right my Queen. The oases are too small and without a good source of water it would be impossible to feed too many people. So the question is: how to have a high enough amount of water materialized in one of the hottest place of the continent?¡±


    I wait for the Queen to gives me her solution.


    You know having a solution to a problem is somewhat easy, but convincing the other party that your solution is the good one, that is the challenge. So a good way to ease the matter is to make it looks like the idea comes from both parties. Letting her giving her opinion would seems like it¡¯s more of a discussion than a monologue.


    ¡°Expending an oasis would need precipitation and the weather doesn¡¯t permit it. The moisture in the air is not enough so a water mage would not be able to just create water from nothing¡­¡±


    Damnit she might be a Queen but she doesn¡¯t know a thing about how weather works. Well I wouldn¡¯t have too if I didn¡¯t read that strange book. She would just get pissed if I keep asking question and she is not able to answer.


    ¡°You are right my Queen but I wasn¡¯t clear enough. What makes water drop from the sky? How do clouds appear? Why isn¡¯t it raining in the desert?¡±


    ¡°Water comes from the clouds. I do not know how clouds appear and it doesn¡¯t rain because the weather is too hot so most water evaporates.¡±


    ¡°Well, basically all air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can''t hold as much water vapor as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses into tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud. It is why it does not rain in a desert; there is no water on the ground that could form a mass of cold air.


    And so for the next twenty minutes, I begin to explain everything I know about clouds. From the fact that the desert is on the lee side of the Nesky Mountain range to the fact that what is missing in the desert is different masses of air which would result in precipitation and thunder. (There is a windward side of the mountain where the clouds from the top of the mountains blow and the lee side where it is dryer and clearer.)


    ¡°So you mean that if there was a way to change the masses of air in the atmosphere we would be able to control the weather and make it rain?¡±


    I could see the incredulous look on her face and how surprised she is.


    ¡°Yes. But here comes the second problem. We would need an air mage to constantly creates the air masses so we could have a constant flow of water, which is not a good idea. What if for some reason he died or someone is controlling him and suddenly no more water? That would be the end of the city.¡±


    ¡°Right so we would need a way to keep the water on the ground so it could evaporate and makes more clouds. A way to create a whole cycle that would only be influenced by nature. ¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    Again, I can feel her staring at my soul trying to understand and analyze everything that has been said from the beginning.


    Should I continue or let her speak her mind?


    ¡°So this is why you would need that slave? To creates plants and trees that would help to keep the water on the ground?¡±


    I was shocked.


    I didn¡¯t mention Cameron in the letter. How did she know? Why does she even know that trees and plants help stabilize the ecosystem? Could she read my mind? No, she would have done it before and answer my questions about how clouds appear. Was I followed? Was he? Damn that smile of her she knows what I am thinking.


    ¡°A guard has reported having seen one of the kids talking to the slave many times, so being curious we send someone to investigate.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    Not wanting to elaborate more on the subject I just continue.


    ¡°Yes, to get a steady state ecosystem, we need what is called pioneer species such as lichens, orchids, mosses and algae. These are species that doesn¡¯t need much to survive and could help more complex species to do the same by creating a nutriment cycling for the soil. After some time it would attract animals. With animals we will get feces that will give even more nutriments to the soil. When the soils is richer than more species of plants will develop and after some time a complete and steady ecosystem will be in place. Water will rain, forest will grow, animal will populate and the desert condition will be no more. That it is what is called Desert Greening.¡±


    Again that looks of her¡­ will I get used to it at one point?


    ¡°Desert greening without the help of magic might take dozen of years, maybe even hundreds of years. I think that with the help of my air magic, and plant magic from Cameron we can speed up the process and creates a steady ecosystem in less than ten years. This is why I am asking to remove the slave collar from Cameron and let him participate in our studies. He would be more useful.¡±


    This is the moment I was waiting for. From her reaction I can see that she, at least, didn¡¯t reject my idea. I might not get an answer right away but I did my best.


    And as a matter of fact she said, ¡°I will summon you in a few days so I could talk about it with my husband. What is your name boy? And how do you know all of this?¡±