The voice of the world.
It was all encompassing, all around, and completely unavoidable.
Long before the gods and deities, there was only the world.
Many assumed that worlds were simply vast spaces within which life prospered. They couldn’t be more wrong.
This world contained voices within it that belonged to none but the world itself.
And who else but the champion of the world is more befitting to hear it?
With his eyes closed, Arisius Aristan was in a deep state of meditation.
One of the abilities of his Divine Grace allowed him to clearly her the world and by concentrating upon it, he could channel the memories of this world through his own soul.
And the memories of the world were never wrong.
Once, there was nothing but the world, with the elements roaming free of anyone’s control.
The ones humanity worshipped as deities were simply otherworlders who seized the power of those elements for themselves.
But they were not the first ones to rule over the world.
Before them, there were Dragons, led by the Dragon Emperor and Dragon Gods.
Now the Dragon Gods and Dragon Emperor were no more, destroyed at the hands of the current gods.
Their descendants, the Dragon Lords, were nowhere near as mighty as their great ancestors.
And before all of them, there were monsters, roaming all over the world.
Gods or more specifically, Celestials were very thorough in eliminating anyone that could be a threat to them.
Such was the case for the once awe-inspiring True Undead Race or the Titans or the Dragons or any other race that they deemed their foes.
And the angels, the ones who could pose a threat to them were promptly enslaved.
But now, Arisius could sense a disturbance in this world.
It was something truly sinister, almost as if it was never supposed to exist in this world.
Arisius: ‘Something is not right….’
But that disturbance was has yet to become worthy of his blade.
Arisius: “Not that it matters”
That was the truth.
All he did care about was fighting the strong with the goal of being the strongest.
Unless this disturbance proved to be worthy challenge, Arisius couldn’t care less about it.
* * *
Mrakus: ‘You were in this world for less than a year, yet you have severely altered the original timeline. I must say, I am impressed’
For one, Demon King was still alive and humanity was currently suffering a loss after loss. Not to mention the fact that all kinds of villains were currently on the move.
In the original timeline, Demon King was killed, and the humanity managed to destroy most of demon-kind.
By the time of Nur Finnerman’s original timeline, demons were all but extinct, with only few survivors remaining.
However, the current timeline created many significant alterations.
If his comrade’s plan succeeded, then the alterations Dark Lord made to the world would become permanent.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Mrakus: “I can’t wait to see what you are going to do next, my favorite chess piece”
* * *
Morphus: “It is very complex”
Meros: “What is?”
Morphus: “Which one is superior, the position or the number of udders?”
Meros: “Pardon?”
Morphus: “The only difference I have found between males and females is the number and position of udders. Simply fascinating”
Meros: “Udders?”
Morphus: “Females have two above the belt and males have one below the belt…apparently both can be milked though I am not sure why males do it since they are not feeding their offspring with it”
Meros: ‘I don’t like where this is going’
Morphus: “Why do you milk your udder, Meros?”
Meros: “Have you seen me….”
Morphus: “Yes, lots of times”
Hearing that, Meros’s face turned tomato red.
Meros ended up covering his face with his left hand.
Sometimes, talking to Morphus was deeply embarrassing, mostly because of his complete lack of tact and severe case of naiveté.
Meros nervously chuckled as he started to slowly wobble away from the nosy angel.
Meros: “Sometimes I forget that you are not a human”
Morphus: “What does that supposed to mean? Meros?”
* * *
Tracoa region, Sevilles territory.
Compared to the devastation and the general discomfort suffered by most of the kingdom due to the war, the residents of the territory couldn’t be more happy.
Of course, by royal decree, every territory was obligated to contribute for the war, but Master Runfar managed to make it so that not a single resident of Sevilles territory was drafted. Instead, the Sevilles territory was responsible for crops and foods supplied for the kingdom’s troops.
Not a single family lost their loved ones and combined with the low taxes, the Sevilles territory started to attract more and more people who wanted to move there.
There was plenty of land and work; so many people were welcomed into the Sevilles territory with open arms.
Due to most workers moving to Sevilles territory, many noble families started to experience rapid economic collapse due to being unable to keep up with their expenses and their uncontrollable spending habits.
As such, many of them opted to sell their territories, with Runfar Sevilles buying nearly all of them.
Runfar Sevilles currently owned about 30% of the total Tracoa territory, thus his authority in Tracoa was now second only to that of the royal family.
Essentially, Runfar was considered the highest ranked noble in Tracoa.
Even as his power and land continued to increase, Master Runfar never let go of his humble nature.
Any free time he would have, he would work with the farmers, helping them out within his physical capacity.
Seeing their lord working alongside them made the workers gain a newfound respect for him.
Runfar was the complete opposite of what one would expect of nobleman, kind, accepting, and generous.
He knew each one of the residents by name and would frequently come by to check their health. Many people owed their lived to him and as a result became extremely loyal to him.
None suspected that this man, the one who created such a heavenly place was in reality the villain who caused the war in the first place.
It was a perfect cover.
Runfar even went as far as to play with the kids.
Lukalis silently watched Runfar carrying a child named Yase on his shoulders, much to the kid’s delight.
The other kids followed Runfar every time he came by and he would gladly play with them.
With her eyes concentrated on Runfar, she didn’t even notice someone else coming near her.
“He sure is a strange one”
Lukalis: “Navek! Don’t scare me like that!”
Navek: “Sorry, sorry”
Seeing Runfar smiling and laughing, the two of them had a little hard time believing that their psychotic leader was the same person as that great noble.
The contrast was just too great.
Navek: “Just by looking at him, you wouldn’t think he is cursed, would you?”
Lukalis: “Cursed?”
Navek: “The way he sees the reality is plain messed up”
Using a simple spell, it was possible to temporarily share your sight with someone. Navek and Runfar did so, only for Navek to realize that the way Dark Lord saw the world was anything but normal.
Ghosts floating everywhere were the least horrific part about it.
Navek: ‘He is functional, but definitely not ok’
Lukalis was not sure what Navek could possibly mean.
Navek: “A very good actor, that one is”
* * *
“Master”
“Milord”
DL: “Lake, June. I assume it has been done?”
Lake: “Half way, milord”
June: “We have managed to bring the demi-humans to Sevilles territory, though most of them are in a bad shape. Many are injured, traumatized, missing limbs, and even young ones were not spared from harm”
DL: “I expected as much”
June: “Do you truly intend to use them as troops?”
DL: “Not right away, of course. I will give them a chance to heal, but then, they will earn their keep”
Lake: “Sounds fair”
DL: “Now, what is the problem?”
Lake: “Their guardian, she wants to speak to you”
DL: “Guardian? Not leader, but guardian? How curious”
DL: “Have the demi-humans settled in shelters and have healers treat their injuries”
Lake/June: “Yes sire”
DL: ‘After all, I did cause this war’
DL: “Meanwhile, I will meet their guardian”
* * *
DL: ‘Not exactly what I expected’
The one before him was without a doubt a dragon.
She was a young one, rather small in size, with a face that looked somewhat childish.
Her entire body was covered in a cloak, with only the bottom half of her face visible. Aside from that, a blue tail extended from the bottom of the cloak.
DL: “It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Runfar Sevilles, the lord of this territory”
She silently approached him, with each step; Dark Lord could sense hostility emanating from her.
Due to the height difference, she was looking up at Dark Lord’s face. Runfar saw two slitted blue eyes gazing up at him.
Her mouth made a movement, but even if someone was trying to overhear them, they wouldn’t understand her words since she spoke in the language of dragons.
Blue Dragon:
DL: ‘Wow. She is good’