It turns out that as the [Demon Lord], I’ve had to deal with a lot of important people and a lot of tense situations. Kinda obvious that would be the case in retrospect.
I think I’ve handled it pretty well. I mean, I’m a real [Diplomat] when I want to be.
… Aaand I just got the subclass. Great. That could have been useful earlier.
* Excerpt from my journal
--------
Holy fricking frick. That was way too fricking close. I thought as I maintained my character with [Actor] and impassively watched the army from Gram slowly retreat. My HP was just above critical. My MP was bottomed out. And while [Panic Button] was usable, that wasn’t my concern.
I really thought Mishael wasn’t going to go for it. And then this entire thing really would have been all for nothing. I sighed in relief as I turned to walk back to my inactive dungeon. That would have been years of searching and work wasted. And how many mana-gathering arrays do I have on this island? What are the odds that one of them would survive the island being blown up and then end up in the hands of Gram’s military?
I shuddered.
Yeah. [Plan B] hadn’t been a bluff. While I also realized that it might have been more efficient to make it as a bluff, I had instead modified that old ritual I’d used to crack open the prison island I’d been stuck on.
If Mishael hadn’t agreed to my terms, everyone on the island, and all of my work, would indeed have gone up in flames… or water. Or earth.
The good news was that things seemed to be stable now, and I got a chance to review everything as I walked back to my dungeon. Yes, walked. I was that low on mana.
“First up… [Arcane Barrage],” I stated. “Worked great. Need to find a way to deal with the cooldowns so I can shoot more than one every year.”
One per year sounded fine on paper when I made the spell since it massively increased the firepower, but that wouldn’t work if I had 3 fleets, or even more, bearing down on me.
“Maybe I just make 4 spells just like it, but with an infinite cooldown,” I stated. “Hmm…”
That would require some additional testing, and I had to be careful not to exploit it enough to cause an inopportune System patch, but it sounded like a fantastic addition.
“Next up, the turrets,” I stated. “They did… fine… but could use some changes to their targeting.”
They had caused massive casualties among the army from the United North and had kept the elves basically from landing at all. Still, the fact that the Gram army got to sit off-shore and shoot potshots at the turrets until they went down was a definite problem. That and the son of a Dave’s ploy of getting targeted and running behind cover.
What’s the best option for that? Do I need to include some type of cover detector? I asked myself with a frown. That sounded… really difficult. Most detection spells weren’t easily stopped by solid walls or anything like that.
I guess worst-case scenario, I could just have it start picking random enemies to shoot at within range instead of closest. It was certainly an option, but I didn’t know if I liked it.
“And then it might just ignore someone who charged straight up to it until very last. Yeah, that’s not quite it,” I sighed. Though, I guess it would have an added benefit of not targeting the front-liners by default.
“Oh, and definitely need to use something besides [Detect People] for targeting,” I said with a brief chuckle. “Angels not showing up on that was something I really should have figured out beforehand.”
I would have to come up with a different type of detector… and then still remember to exclude myself.
Dying to my own turrets would be super embarrassing. I thought.
I arrived back at my base and confirmed that everyone seemed to be retreating. Even the other nations were reluctantly guided away by groups of angels.
“So, turret targeting is the biggest one… Ooh! I should add AOE spells to some of the turrets and then mix up the order of casts.”
I doubted that the [Son of Dave’s] sprint would have succeeded if the turrets didn’t all shoot their [Shock Bolts] simultaneously. Or if he had been shot at with [Hell Blazes] or [Fireballs].
“Anything else?” I asked myself as I returned to watching the [Scrys]. I snorted. “The daves were almost useless. Even with spawners. They did their job as speedbumps on the way to the turrets but did little more than that.” I shook my head. “I need another summon. But I don’t think that heavenhounds would be that good for-“ I cut myself off with a slap to the forehead. “Duh! [Summon Infernal Dire Snail]! Why didn’t I queue one of those up somewhere? I’m probably still limited to one, but I could have kept respawning it every time they managed to take it down.”
I sighed. That one was a serious missed opportunity.
“Oh well,” I grumbled. “Next time. And there will be a next time.” I paused. “Hopefully, not one where I lose a swordfight with a [Son of Dave] or get my butt kicked by an archangel and company.”
The first part would be solved with more [Swordsmanship] practice.
Maybe I should find someone to teach me that…
And the second would be solved by…
“How do I handle the angels?” I muttered. After beating Shalia in a 1v1, I was fairly confident in my odds to take on Mishael, but it seemed that he was more than content to bring some of his highest-ranking buddies along when it came to beating me up.
He didn’t do that when I had an army. I thought with a frown. Maybe he respects me more as a threat now… or maybe it was just the case that I was the only target, so he might as well.
Either way, angels were the biggest sticking point. I didn’t know how I would be able to stall them long-term, short of going out and fighting them myself.
“And that won’t be an option,” I grimaced. Most of the pocket dimension spell was just a matter of mana gathering, so I didn’t even need to stay in the same room most of the time. However, I doubted that letting manipulation points build up was even an option. I was going to need to be there in person for the entire cast. “And I can’t exactly be in two places at once.”
I paused as the words came out of my mouth.
“Alright, add that one to my to-do list. That would be a game changer,” I muttered.
I’d lived in a magical world for centuries and still kept approaching some things like I was back on Earth. Why the frick couldn’t I be in two places at once with the right magic?
Need to figure it out… and then not overuse. I can’t have it getting nerfed.
I was starting to realize that was actually the biggest problem. Whenever I came up with something really powerful, I had to second-guess myself because the System might decide to take it away at any point.
I was still planning on doing all of those things, but still. It was annoying.
Anyway, my ever-growing to-do list was padded, the biggest one now being “how do fight angels!?!”, and I went back to watching the armies retreat.
Mishael kept his word, and they were soon off the island. The angels kept watch as the ships departed, and then they all ascended back to Heaven.
Or at least, they flew upward and incremented their dimension variable to 2, which was basically the same thing.
I breathed a sigh of relief when they did.
Oh, I was 100% sure that the gathered armies would try something since I still had 7 days’ worth of mana to collect before finishing off my pocket dimension, but the only thing that could really hurt me was [Heroes] and angels.
And ballista bolts that I enchanted with explosive magic. I added with a grimace. Still not sure why I thought flexing on them and catching the bolt was a good idea. I could have just frickin’ dodged.
Though, I guess in my defense, dodging was usually more costly. If I wanted to be sure of the dodge, it would have needed to have been a [Flash Step], which was on cooldown, or a [Blink], which was 100 mana more than I wanted to spend for something that I initially didn’t even think would hurt much.
The explosion enchant on it sure put that to rest… I thought with another sigh. And then the [Son of Dave] had one of the swords I had made back when I was goofing off as a [Weaponsmith]. If the angels hadn’t been there, I would have ended up being my own worst enemy in this fight.
“Speaking of weaponsmithing, I really need to make my sword, too,” I muttered. That item had been on my to-do list for a while, but I kept putting it off.
“I’m the [Demon Lord], so it’s probably going to have to be made out of demonite, but that means I have to locate the demonite to forge it.” I paused. “And then also figure out how I’m going to melt it since there’s no way that it doesn’t have a super high resistance to heat.”
I paused and snorted. “It’s probably going to be something stupid like I’ll need to forge it in a volcano and pour all of my evil into it to make one sword to rule them aalllll.”
I was cut off from my brief wondering about how the Lord of the Rings would have gone if the titular item was a sword when I noticed that some of the ships from the United North were turning around and heading back to the island.
I groaned and started casting an [Advanced Teleport].
“Seriously, people. You don’t stand a chance. Stop trying. I don’t enjoy killing you.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem they got the message… and I couldn’t make it a [Message] since I didn’t know their names.
To save mana, I bumped up the cast time, used the full chant, and then appeared at the front of the lead ship.
“You’ve entered within 50 miles of my island, so, based on my oath, your lives are now forfeit,” I stated with [Project Voice] and [Draw Attention] activated from my [Actor] subclass.
Most of them stood there in shock for a bit, but a few charged forward.
“[Hell Blaze].” I cast, and the front of the ship was suddenly alight.
The [Berserkers] [Raged] and swung their greataxes at me, but I simply pushed them aside as I walked down the length of the boat… each step lighting another small fire in my wake.
“Consider this your one and only warning,” I stated with my skills still active. “You are no match for me. Turn around now, and I will allow you to leave.”
Then, since I saved most of my mana, I activated a [Wordless Cast] [Advanced Teleport].
Shortening the cooldown and making it wordless was apparently a bad idea because it took all of my mana, and I ended up stuck inside a tree instead of at my destination. It was definitely not the most dignified of teleport exits, and I had to burn my way out with my armor’s flames along with [Fire Strike].
That subsequently started a forest fire… but… I didn’t have anything I cared about in that area anyway, so I shrugged it off.
Anyway, I returned to my “command center” on foot and checked the scrying array, hoping the berserkers had taken my warning and headed back.
They hadn’t. They were still coming, full steam ahead. In fact, I was pretty sure that even more ships had joined along with them since it seemed like they had almost their entire fleet now.
I groaned and looked up at the ceiling.
“Why do they all have such a death wish?” I asked. Then, I sighed. “No… I get it. They think my ritual will end the world or something stupid, since apparently, the System has to warn everyone, every time I decide to do some big magic. Even if it’s just making a pocket dimension.”
“Maybe I could convince them that it won’t hurt anybody?” I muttered. I had… kinda… convinced Mishael of that. Though, I’m pretty sure he was just banking on the fact that they would be available to summon again by the time my oath wore off.
“Why is it so hard to get people to believe you when you’re the big bad who’s literally trying to destroy the world?” I joked dryly.
I was stalling again, but that was fine since I needed time for my mana to regen.
It also gave me time to think of ways to avoid needlessly killing the people coming to my island… but I couldn’t come up with anything.
The best scenario I can currently think of is killing them until their morale breaks. I thought. I looked down at my hand that wasn’t currently holding Singularity.
“Even more deaths on my hands. When will it ever stop?” I asked.
I already knew the answer to that. It would stop when they managed to somehow kill me for good or when I succeeded and took down the entirety of the OmniverseEngine.
“I guess there’s a third option,” I said with a light chuckle. “Give up [Demon Lord-ing] and pretend to be normal. I would still need to move around every 5 years or so, but I bet everyone would eventually forget about me.” I paused. “Except the demons and the angels. But I would just have to avoid them. Wouldn’t be too hard.”
I… actually gave that a bit more thought than I assumed I would. I had never wanted to be a [Demon Lord] in the first place, so what was stopping me from giving it up and doing whatever I wanted instead?
I had enjoyed my time as a [Stage Magician]. And also my time working on inventing things with Varnak. Even the fey were fun to hang around once you got used to their tricks, and they had the benefit of being fellow immortals.
There was a multitude of other things I could check out and try, and I literally had all the time in the world.
The only problem was…
The world will never forgive me. I thought. My hand rested over the simple necklace that was still around my neck. And I can never forgive myself, either.
Those depressing thoughts taken care of; it was back to thinking about… death.
“Oh yeah,” I muttered. “If there are any leftover bodies, I should take care of them before they become zombies. I don’t think my turrets will target undead.”
I looked at the scrying mirrors and saw a distinct lack of bodies, even in the areas where the berserkers had just zerged[1] down my turrets.
“Oh, yeah, they would grab the bodies, wouldn’t they?” I muttered. I had never paid much attention to it in the wars I watched or participated in, but it did make sense that they wouldn’t just leave the bodies around to become zombies. “I mean, we didn’t even leave bodies lying around in war on Earth, and we just had to worry about disease, not zombies.”
And that gave me another idea. A horrible, morbid idea…. And one I would likely use when it was time to actually take down the OmniverseEngine.
Anyway, the time passed slowly, but I eventually regained all of my mana… even as I cast an [Advanced Teleport]. Yeah, it turned out that I was familiar enough with the spell now that I could even “rest” while I was casting (unless I was trying to shorten the cooldown or something).
That left me my full mana bar to play with on my next assault, but I saved all my mana for [Blinks] between ships and the [Teleport] back. I used my armor’s fire to light the fires that time around, and I didn’t bother trying to intimidate the berserkers beyond whatever natural intimidation factor I had when I cut any of them that attacked me down with my sword.
Stolen story; please report.
Once I was down to the point where [Teleport] would bottom me out, I teleported back to the beach the berserkers would try to land on again.
They had damaged and destroyed the turrets but left the power sources alone after the first one blew up in their faces.
The good news for me was that they gave the pieces of the turrets a wide berth after that, and some of the turrets were still in large enough pieces that could be repaired… with my portable smithy, of course.
After perfecting it for the fishy folk, it wasn’t that hard to create a version that didn’t need to filter out water, and it wasn’t like I would give up the opportunity to have something like that in my pocket in case it was needed.
Anyway, I was in there hammering a piece of mithril back into place and fixing some of the etchings of the runes when I got a surprise.
Jor-Ex-Ar: Titus, would you care to explain why we are receiving a mission to stop you from casting your ritual when we enter the beyond sea?
Beyond sea being their term for the water on the Placeholder side of the portal, of course. Either way, I frowned.
I guess that proves that the System messages don’t go out to anyone in the dragonlands. Huh. That explains quite a bit.
I didn’t reply immediately because the wrong words in response to that [Message] could ruin all my hard work… I was still under an oath not to harm the merfolk, after all, and that would be difficult to stick to if they were attacking my island.
Fortunately, I didn’t even have to lie.
“The System gives out those warnings whenever I cast large rituals,” I replied. “If you complete the mission, you will stop me from making the pocket dimension.”
I double-checked the words and realized I was over. The [Message] had been shorter in virian.
Oops. I thought. Then, I cleared my throat.
I was still low on mana, but thankfully [Cast from SP] was a thing, and that bar was almost full.
“[Message] Jor-Ex-Ar. Apologies. I didn’t count. Anyway, the mission is basically to stop me from making the pocket dimension. I would greatly appreciate it if you and the other merfolk could stay away until the countdown is complete. Other people are already trying to stop me from completing it, and I don’t want you or your people to get caught in the crossfire.”
There was a decent length pause, and I was getting a bit nervous. Then, a surprisingly short reply came through.
Jor-Ex-Ar: I suppose we can do that. Though, I would like some assurances
I groaned. “[Message] Jor-Ex-Ar. Fine. Meet me at the portal to the dragonlands in… I guess an hour?”
Jor-Ex-Ar: See you there
I grumbled to myself as I continued fixing turrets until the hour was up and my mana was full again. Then, with a [Teleport to Beacon], I found myself in front of a group of heavily armed [Sea Hunters].
“This is quite the greeting,” I stated as they pointed their spears toward me. I looked at Jor-Ex-Ar. “Please tell me you’re not stupid enough to try this as a trap.”
“No, no,” he stated as he pushed the head of the nearest hunter’s spear down. “But you can understand why the others would be nervous after receiving a mission from System specifically to stop you. So, if we could just have an oath for reassurance?”
I rolled my eyes. “Does an existing oath work?” I asked as I pulled up that portion of my status and flicked it over to Jor-Ex-Ar.
His lips started moving as he read through the oath, and his eyes gradually narrowed.
“Who is the archangel Mishael, and how do we know that he agreed to this?” he asked, but before I could respond, he continued. “And is it not the case that anyone returning to your island invalidates this entire oath? How can we be certain that you are not expecting someone to return before then, invalidate the oath, and then you would be free to cast whatever you want with the ritual instead?”
“Yeesh,” I muttered. “You could have just said no, it won’t work.” I cleared my throat and thought for a moment. “I could swear that I’ll cast the pocket dimension in 7 days, but that gets real awkward if someone comes and stops me.”
I paused as I had an interesting thought.
“What happens if I swear to do something, but then it winds up being physically impossible?” I asked. Jor-Ex-Ar raised an eyebrow, so I continued. “I mean, what happens if I make a System-bound oath to do the pocket dimension ritual in 7 days, but then a [H-“ I coughed. Probably don’t want to tell him that the most likely person to stop me is a [Hero]. “But then someone really strong comes along and stops me, even with all my best efforts thrown at it?”
He mulled that over a bit.
“I… do not have a clue,” he finally admitted. “I have rarely sworn oaths. I think the ones with you are my only example.”
“Hmm,” I stated with a frown. “Well, if this works like it should, then I don’t think I should be penalized if I do everything I can to fulfill it but just come up short. If it doesn’t, I guess we’ll just find out the hard way.” Then, before Jor could say anything more. “I solemnly swear by the System and to the System that I will use the mana and ritual that it is warning the world about to create a pocket dimension and not to harm anyone.” I paused briefly. “Except anyone stupid enough to invade the island without my permission.”
Jor-Ex-Ar thought that one over for a moment. “I suppose… that should work. I would have preferred to choose the words with you to ensure no loopholes.”
I shrugged. “Sorry, you’ll have to take what you can get. Now, I need to get back to the island ASAP before someone does something stupid and comes back to the island before I can stop them.”
I had actually been casting an [Advanced Teleport] during that entire conversation. Initially, it was because I hadn’t been sure if I would need to nope out of there to avoid harming any of the merfolk. After that, it was because I was still worried about the United Northers coming back to the island… and then the other nations realizing that my oath was moot and all joining back in on the attack.
“See you around,” I gave him a slight wave as I prepared to depart.
He hesitated for a moment but then replied. “Do you need a [Diplomat] to help?” he asked.
That was shocking enough that I almost fizzled my spell.
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said. “Are you… volunteering to help me with diplomatic work?” I asked.
“It is my purpose on the council,” he replied. “And given your oaths, they are essentially trespassing on water that will soon belong to us. It would be better to clear up any misunderstandings now rather than later.”
That… all made a lot of sense, and I was kinda kicking myself for not thinking about that angle. However, I had a bigger problem.
If they get to talking too much, the fishy folk will learn that I’m not exactly who I’ve been showing to them. I thought.
They all knew tales of the calamitous one and how he had destroyed the island… but I had managed to truthfully play that off as me being held and tortured there, so there was at least a bit of justification.
If the rest of my history came out, I couldn’t be sure that the merfolk would remain on my side.
So, it was perhaps best to sow some discord right at the beginning.
“You can come along, but I really do not recommend establishing too close of relations with any other nations,” I stated. “You’re quite different than them, and let me give you a brief history of how people different than humans have been treated…”
From there I launched into a shortened, but not even very exaggerated, overview of history regarding the nation’s treatment of non-humans.
The treatment of the beastborn as second-class citizens after their nation was taken away from them by the undead. The wars that had been waged simply because they wanted more land and thought the others were undeserving of it. And I even got to top it off with the most recent addition of the dwarves being subjugated and forced into slavery.
… It was mostly Gram/Vir and not the United North, but they didn’t need to know that distinction.
“This is more serious than I thought,” he stated.
I internally fist-pumped. Now, just use that as an excuse to not bring him and-
“Perhaps I should bring some extra guards along, in that case?” he asked. I almost lost my spell again as he looked around. “Does anyone here volunteer to travel with me as I open communications with the landfolk?”
A few hands tentatively raised.
“You’re serious about this, aren’t you,” I stated.
He nodded. “Yes. There is an entire world above the sea, and it will do us no favors if we bury our heads in the sand and ignore it.”
Honestly, that shut me up. I couldn’t argue with the merman in front of me, who had grown so much from the sniveling coward who curled up his tail at the first sign of me.
“Besides,” he continued. “We need some actual trade partners for those… what do you call them?... metals. The amount that you brought was simply nowhere near enough.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“So, you’re actually just trying to replace me with a different trade partner?” I asked.
“That is part of it, yes,” he replied with a cheeky grin.
“That would be annoying if I didn’t also think it was a good idea,” I grumbled. “Yeah, I can’t supply an entire growing nation with metal. Fair enough. Though, if you want to start those talks, it’s probably best if I don’t go with you.”
Jor-Ex-Ar’s eyes widened slightly. “I meant no offense. If it troubles you-“
I waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. What I mean is that me being there would make them more likely to be hostile to you. It is pretty much impossible to overstate how much they hate my guts.”
He paused. “I am sure it is not that bad.”
“I literally just got done lighting 12 of their boats on fire,” I stated.
He gave me a confused look that I mirrored for a moment.
Then I caught it.
I sighed. “Fire spreads when you aren’t underwater. It catches other things on fire and can just keep going until it finds something that it can’t catch on fire. Like water, which actually puts it out.” I paused for a second. “Usually.”
I had to at least give him some explanation for why my armor could still light on fire underwater, after all.
With that out of the way, he frowned.
“That is certainly going to make these talks more difficult,” he stated. “When you mentioned that you needed to defend the island-“
“You didn’t think I meant a full-on 1 vs all war?” I interrupted. “Yeah. That’s unfortunately what it is out there. I’ve kept them back, but they’re not taking the hint. It’s getting annoying, and I’m a little worried I’ll have to kill all of them.”
The surrounding [Sea Hunters] had two reactions. A few laughed. They were sure I was joking. The rest blanched.
Jor-Ex-Ar was in the second boat, though he recovered quickly.
That gave me a second to evaluate exactly what I said.
That was… a remarkably casual boast about being able to kill all of the world’s land armies by myself. I thought. And it was true. I’m still not ready yet because I can’t do that and also take on Heaven, but it’s definitely weird that I can practically joke about that at this point.
“Every day, I’m more of the [Demon Lord] I never wanted to be,” I mumbled.
“What was that?” Jor-Ex-Ar asked.
“Nothing,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Anyway, good luck with the negotiations and… oh! I have something that should help with that.” I cleared my throat. “You may have a claim on the island, but it’s my island now! And if you don’t stay away until the ritual is complete, I will take vengeance on all your people!”
Jor-Ex-Ar cocked his head, and the rest of the [Sea Hunters] also gave me odd looks.
I shrugged. “Well, I mean, you know that’s a lie, especially given all of the oaths and stuff, but I figure if you tell them that I threatened you away from your island it might make relations a bit smoother.”
“Are you sure it is wise to play yourself as the villain like that?” Jor-Ex-Ar asked. “If they figure it out, we will be in a much worse position.”
“Well, I think it’s fair to say that if they find out you’re working with me, they won’t be thrilled even right now,” I replied.
He didn’t reply to that immediately and only hmmed in thought.
With that, it was finally time to take my leave… After I gave one last piece of advice.
“While I know you want to establish relations with the other nations, the United North will probably not be the best place to supply you with metal. For that, I would recommend Pumil…” I paused. “Which may or may not still exist. Right. Gram took them over.” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, that fleet to the southwest is probably your best bet for metal right now, but it does come with the caveat that a good portion of it will likely be produced by slave labor, so do with that info what you will.”
Before he could respond, and the incredulous look on his face told me that had been a bit of a bombshell, I finally used that [Advanced Teleport] that I’d been holding onto and ported back onto my island. Not into a tree this time, thankfully.
However, I made sure that I didn’t eat up all my mana because I had something I wanted to use it on.
“[Scry] Jor-Ex-Ar,” I cast as I pulled out my hand mirror.
As expected, the stunned look on his face hadn’t gone away. It remained until he slowly shook his head.
“Some days, I despise my position,” he stated. He paused. “Make that most days.”
As much fun as it was to see him exasperated, that wasn’t actually my primary purpose. I wanted to make sure that the negotiations went okay.
So, I watched as he gathered his group of [Sea Hunters] and swam to the United North fleet.
Comparing his location and speed to my scrying array, it seemed I shouldn’t have scried so soon. I guesstimated he was more than an hour out.
All this teleporting is screwing up my perception of distance. I thought with a slight chuckle.
Then, I cut my [Scry] and regened mana.
That meant that I was nice and topped off when he finally reached the fleet, and I was also able to have an [Advanced Teleport] at the ready to jump onto the ship and possibly light it all on fire.
And then, as he gestured to the others to remain behind, I witnessed history in the making as the merfolk of Placeholder made first contact with an outside race.
He popped up out of the water, and one of the sailors spotted him. The northerner froze for just a moment but quickly called out for the others.
Both sides stared at each other briefly, but one of the sailors threw out a rope.
I… don’t know if he thought they had a man overboard or if he simply didn’t notice the tail that would make climbing up something like that a bit tricky, but it ended up being the right call.
Jor-Ex-Ar took the rope, and as he was being pulled up, he shifted into his land form.
… Now, some things to note about merfolk culture. They didn’t usually wear much on their lower half. It’s hard to swim with clothes on your tail, after all. That translates into them pretty much just wearing a loin cloth on their lower body when they shift into their landforms, since they are still not societally used to the concept of pants.
Why do I bring all of that up? Because I was wincing, sure there would be a disaster as Jor-Ex-Ar transformed… only for him to completely blow me away.
He pulled a fashionable robe out of his inventory as he transformed and as he was being hauled up into the boat, resulting in him stepping foot onto the foreign vessel fully clothed.
… And almost regal-looking?
I whistled. “Dang. Jor sure cleans up nice.”
My concerns had mostly been assuaged. I was almost willing to cut the [Scry] there but decided to stick around a bit longer.
“Greetings, I am Jor-Ex-ar [Diplomat] of the people beneath the sea,” he stated.
The crew looked at each other, and the… [Captain]? [Raid Leader]? I don’t know. I was pretty unclear about the chain of command for the United North.
Anyway, the person in charge, whatever his title may be, stepped forward and addressed Jor-Ex-Ar… with confidently spoken but very halting words.
“Hello, Jor-Ex-Ar. Nice is. Meeting you,” he said. “Am… boat commander… Jontish.”
Oh. Oh no. I thought. They don’t speak virian.
Similar to how teleporting around everywhere had skewed my sense of distance, having an always-on translate feature sometimes made me forget about languages… unless I was in disguise and needed to use a specific one, of course.
They shook hands, and I was glad I told Jor-Ex-Ar about that particular custom. Anyway, after that, they tried to have some discourse, but there were a few problems.
First, Jontish didn’t know enough virian to keep up with most of what Jor-Ex-Ar said.
Second, Jontish wasn’t really high enough on the totem pole to be making decisions about relations with a foreign nation.
Third, Jor-Ex-Ar mentioned me by name, Titus, and that was apparently one word everyone knew.
The crew got up in arms… and I [Advanced Teleported] in.
“Speak of the [Demon Lord], and he shall… Oh wait, I guess you don’t have that saying here,” I stated from the front of the boat.
All eyes turned towards me, and a few people pulled out weapons.
“Easy there,” I said as I hit them with a bit of demon lord aura. “Don’t do anything foolish, and I won’t hurt any of you.”
They were, expectedly, very uneasy with my presence even though I had gone to the liberty of taking my gauntlets off and not being on fire this time around.
Anyway, I needed to do something before they assumed Jor-Ex-Ar was with me. So, I immediately looked in his direction and sighed.
“I thought I was incredibly clear about what I would do to you and your people if you approached this island before the ritual is complete,” I said.
“Titus?” he hissed. “What are you doing here?”
I waved dismissively. “Yes, yes. I know. How dare I threaten your people. Blah, blah, blah.”
He looked taken aback, and I chuckled internally.
Oh, Jor. You’re surrounded by a bunch of people who don’t speak your language, and I’m your subtitler. I could insinuate you said just about anything.
With a shake of my head, I continued.
“Anyway, from your greeting, I understand you’re a [Diplomat],” I stated. “Good. I have a job for you. Convince these idiots over here to stop trying to invade my island, and then maybe I’ll be willing to play translator for your little talks.”
Jor-Ex-Ar gave me a long-suffering look and then sighed. “Very well.”
-------
Having a [Diplomat] helped things along. You would think that overwhelming power would be enough to keep most people from charging headfirst into suicide but having someone along to calmly explain the restrictions my oath to Gram put me under was a lifesaver… literally.
As for how the talks functioned, I didn’t lie about being a translator. I didn’t speak much gertian, but I didn’t need to since I could just repeat the exact words that anyone said in English and they would be completely understood. So, it was just a matter of repeating what someone said, and then they would nod if I got it right.
… That last bit was there because the United North leader was a bit hesitant to trust me with translation.
Which was fair, I suppose.
Oh, and when I say leader, I unfortunately don’t mean Jontish. Jontish was a [Captain] equivalent, and we needed to speak to the [Admiral] equivalent instead, so we had to move to an entirely different boat for the actual talks.
Anyway, Jor-Ex-Ar convinced them to back off until the ritual was completed, so the clause where I couldn’t hurt people would remain in effect.
Then, we had a bit more standard diplomacy that you get when two nations meet for the first time, and Jor promised to stay in touch.
… Which I guess he could with [Message]. Dang. I just wanted things to be convenient for me, but I accidentally made him much better at his job.
From there, we said our goodbyes, and I watched over Jor-Ex-Ar as he also got in talks with the other two nations.
He convinced them to stay away from the island, worked out a trade deal with Gram, and was baffled by the pointy ears of the elves and by the beastborn that were residents of Dryadal.
… Which, I had horns. I don’t know why pointy ears were a big deal or why he was surprised by animal traits.
Anyway, he got along swimmingly with the Gram delegation because he spoke their language, and the elven talks went fine because someone had been smart enough to bring a translator.
And with that, the final days before the ritual’s completion wound down.
-----
I was walking along the bottom of the sea to the point that I would designate the entrance to the pocket dimension.
I was actively casting the final portion of the ritual, and I was sure that something was about to go horrendously wrong.
What will it be? It chooses a merman as the [Hero] and he one-shots me? The leviathan comes back with a vengeance? We find out that calling for help from Heaven doesn’t actually have a cooldown?
But, I reached the location where Jor-Ex-Ar and a host of [Sea Hunters] were waiting, and nothing happened.
I pulled out the mithril gate that would be the entrance/exit and then finished the spell.
“Through the power of space and the twisting of dimensionality, I subvert this chosen pocket for my own. I seal it away from the rest of the world and protect it from intrusion. Be broken, tyranny of space, and surrender to my whim.” I paused and triple-checked everything.
It all checked out.
Here goes nothing.
“[Titus’ Island-Sized Pocket Dimension],” I cast.
… Hey, spellcasters have to start naming their spells after themselves at some point, right?
A giant spatial wave shot out from the island.
It moved through all of us… while at the same time not really moving at all. The water remained still throughout the cast.
Either way, as it hit, I got disoriented… which was a first since normally spatial magic didn’t really do that to me.
The merfolk seemed worse off as they all started floating at odd angles, including one who went completely upside down.
However, that wore off quickly, and the gate in front of me shone with a soft purple light.
“Alright, moment of truth,” I said as I walked through it…
And came out looking at a duplicate of the area in front of me.
I couldn’t help my wide grin as I walked back out and got Jor-Ex-Ar and the others to return with me.
They were going to stay the night and ensure that no sea monsters spawned before they gave the all-clear for the rest of their people to move in, but I already knew that would succeed.
Mana generation. Check. I thought. Location for the final battle. Check. What’s next on the to-do list? I asked.
I figured I would stop putting it off now.
“Time to finally make my sword,” I stated.
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[1] Zerged/zerg rush - Zerg refers to a race in the game Starcraft that are able to produce inexpensive units quickly. A zerg rush then refers to the tactic of players of that race creating a lot of low-cost units and attacking early on to try to overwhelm people with quantity.