"{The challenger had to introduce himself.}"

A voice echoed through the darkness.

As soon as the request to the king left my lips, We were transferred into a dark room. I stand confused staring at my surrounding while the mighty king of Shallow kingdom stood before me alone.

"Ah! Wh....."

"{INTRODUCTION!!!!}"

UHhhhh!!

The voice once again echoed through the room this time nearly damaging my eardrums. The King doesn't seem bothered by it. He only smirks at my desperate situation.

This voice is similar to the one I heard when I first came into this world. It was the same but different. It echoed through the room rather than coming from inside me.

"My name is Iblis!"

"{LIEE!!!}"

UUHHHHH!

The voice louder than before caused me to fall to my knees. I covered my ears with both hands but it was no use. It is an unbearable echo.

"My Name is Bayezeid!.......Uhh"

Still covering my ear, I stood prepare for another echo but...

No Response, NO order. It seemed it had quietened down. It seems it is a kind of a lie detector.

Now I had to deal with King.

What does that idiot think he is?

"... Ho, Hoho! To call me an idiot, aren't you a brave one!!!.... It has been years since I last had a Sacred audience so I think I am going let it go just this once but carefully chose your words."

Wait! What!

Did I say that out loud?

No, It can't be. My mouth didn't move. It was something else. Something related to the voice from before. Magic. science or a miracle

Still trying to get my head around my situation, I glare at the person before who simply responded back with a cheery smile.

He may think that cheery smile can ease the mood but it is creepy. Smile like this is totally contrary to the image he has as a strong, ruthless warrior.

"{What so creepy about it? You know strong, Ruthless warrior have feelings too.}"

Uhh! It is the voice from before. Don't tell me.....

This is bad. Not only can he hear my every thought but can also use that piercing voice to deafen poor old me. I have to empty my mind. I shouldn't think about anything indecent.

I shouldn't...

I shouldn'...

"Ok !!! I will not read your mind. You are no fun...... Just get this over with so I can go back. Let's see, Let's see."

After announcing that he sat down on a still materializing chair and begin reading a book.

"Oh so, I have to..... and then we........ hmmm......... answer the.......oh, I see."

He leaned back at his chair and continue reading through the book as if he was cramming for a test.

-Is that some kind of guide to the audience!? Can he be any more disappointing? Or is this a joke? If so it isn't even a little bit funny.

"Excu..."

"Be quiet! I need complete focus for this part."

"Ok! Take your ....time. I....will be right o....ver here if you need anything."

I said in a dim voice making sure not to disturb the mighty person before me. His rebuttal from before brought back some really unsavory memories from my life back home. 

-Shit! why do I feel so depressed?-

I divert my attention towards my surrounding in my attempt to busy while the king understands the audience himself.

Now I get a chance to look around, this is not a room. It is just vast emptiness. I took one last glance at the king confirming that his still busy with the book, I decided to walk away from him to explore vast emptiness.

 I walk

..... I walk

........I walk

"It is really boring!!"

I continue walking away from the king. I am sure how much time has passed but it almost felt like I was walking for hours. There were no walls to stop me. No furniture to obstruct me. And no other living being beside us. It was just complete darkness and lonely silence. 

I turned around to find that King was nowhere to be seen. Judging from the size of the book, he should have read it by now so it's best that I should return.....

'{As the witness of the sacred Audience, I have to announce rules of the challenge first. Soooo

First, You should be kept immobilize until the challenge is over..}"

Followed by a voice that seems to be coming from right beside me, A pair of the chain came from nowhere and tied me by my hand and neck and before I can do anything, I found myself being dragged to the king and being tied to an erect object behind me.

"Uhhh!"

With a thrust, I am completely immobilize

King still sitting on his cozy chair smirked at my helplessness.

".. Second, you will only get 3 chance to answer the riddle. If you fail, you will be executed by the observer on the spot..... by the method of his choice and if you succeed. You will be given the treasure of God.

And third, if you are caught trying to read Observer mind, You will be subjected to hellfire."

With this, He clapped both his hand and a book appeared between us.

".....Well Then, Let the audience commence."

 ~Sacred Audience or meeting with God.

It is one of the oldest tradition of Shallow Kingdom. I heard about it from both Demure and Namra.

No one has obtained the prize of this meeting even though it only takes to say I challenge you to the king to invoke the rite.

The reason may be that nobody has survived it. After all, Demure told me that anyone who invokes the sacred audience dies in the end. So, my chances of succeeding are hardly 1%. But if I survive, all charges against me will drop. That the law. Holder of Treasure of god can't be punished

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Fufufu. Fuhaha. Fuahahahahaha!"

And suddenly, laughter.

A burst of perfect, three-step laughter. Simply breathtaking.

What is so funny about this situation?

" Interesting. I never thought the leader of Invaders would walk right up to me. hm...hm. You are really a brave man. "

What?

"Why the shocked look? Aren't you the leader of the Goblin army that set up a camp in our territory some time ago?"

Did he get all this information from reading my mind or.....

"How do you know that?"

"I know about everything that occurs in my Kingdom. How you wanted an audience with me or how you sent off your bodyguards back or how you wanted the right to establish a settlement. How you desperately need my military help"

"How..."

"I, Also know you intended to get your hands on Sacred treasure from the very beginning. That's why I freed Demure and punished you so that you would request a sacred audience."

What?

No way!! It's impossible. How could.....

I glare at the King, looking back at me with a triumphant smile, Is he trying to impress me or something

"If you knew that from the beginning then why are we waiting for? Then what is your answer?

"No, Of course! It is your problem and you should be dealing with it."

"I see!! You know if I fail what is going to happen to this world? To your Kingdom? To this city, you are so proud of?!"

"I will think about it when that will happen."

"Hmmm! Then what are you waiting for? Let begin this rite!! 

His already creepy smirk widens into a smile as he points at the book lying between us.

"This is the prize for passing the rite 'The book that will break the cycle'. No one knows about its power but it is a fact that it holds some. "

What!? a book? The treasure of God is this thin book? I don't understand. People have been giving up their lives for this book and what with the weird description 'The book that will break the cycle'. Why don't they tell us about this before a person demands an audience?

I thought I might be some weapon of mass destruction or something but it is just a useless book.

But I can't complain now. My life is already on the line. I am one of the idiots who took the risk for this book.

"It is a book gifted to us by the great Creation Dragon Ero. This entire nation is established to protect this simple book until a faithful one will take it away from us."

Wait! A Great dragon! I never heard about. I thought that this world only has two Gods.

Goddess Meira of East!

God Aero of West!

Shallow kingdom state diety is supposed to be Aero like the west than why is he mentioning this dragon as if he is some kind of God.

Maybe I am thinking too much into it. But he did call it the Creation dragon.

"May you be that faithful one and find the answer to this riddle."

He ended his speech with a flick as the book is set on fire.

Wait! why the hell is he burning the book?

.......

...

Oh ! it seems like it was only for show. The book is still good and well as flames are blown away by a gust of wind.

"What is the spell that connects people and helps them share thoughts with others."

Huh! That's all! That the riddle.

I expected something confusing and mysterious but it is rather a simple one. This is not a riddle. It is just a simple question. It should be included in a general knowledge test for the wizards. Not as a test for the life-threatening Rite. 

But it is a problem, I have to answer to survive.

I don't know anything about magic. This world seems to have Number of spells but I never bothered to learn even a single one.

Namra usually used a healing spell. What was it again?

'May goddess something something heal the person something something'

I can't even remember a simple one like this. I am really not suited for this world.

"Take your time! You have all the time in the world."

tsk!

Why the hell is the chain tightening? Is there a time limit? That idiot just lied to me. If I speak now it will count as a guess. If not I can't take the chance to confirm it. Idiot king! Why didn't he told me about the time limit?!!!

I have to think fast. Spells usually have simple names like creation magic or healing magic so a spell that connects people should also have a simple name. LIKE!

"Mind-link spell"

"{WRong!!!}"

Shiitt!!

Again with that loud voice. My arms aren't even free to cover my ears. Why can't he just use his mouth?

"One gone. Two Left. I really love your pathetic expressions."

"Mens Copulare."

"{Wrong}"

AhhhH!

"I don't know what that means but only one chance left."

I sprout some random Gibberish in the hope that I got it right. Why is the king acting like a game show host?

GRRR.

I have already lost it. I came unprepared and now I am dead. There is nothing, I can do but guess.

AAAAhhhh!

The chain is tightening again. At moments like this, I really miss my life back home, my computer, gaming station and carefree life. I hope that if I die here, I woke up on my bed back home. I still wish that this world is just a bad dream. I can't stop myself from wishing that one day I will wake up back at my home and get a chance to eat something good for once. 

I never wished for life like this I really hope this nightmare end. With that hope in my mind, I decided to make the...

Last guess....

I can hardly breathe now... As the chain around my neck tightens, I begin to lose sensation in the body below it. This is bad. I coughed and vomit blood the blood rising in my nearly obstructed neck. It is the sign of my wanning life. Before my eyes, I can still barely see the famous merciful king smiling at my unfortunate situation.

-You got to be..... kidding me...... I am going to die like this.

-I can't.... I have to return back..,... I have....

I seized last bit of fading consciousness, desperately pulling it back to buy some more time,

Without a thought, I screamed the first word that came into my mind. A word that my brain somehow linked to the riddle

"Face-"

-boook!

.....

...

..

"{Correct.....}"

"What!!???"

Both of us responded in unison as the chains around me disappeared.

--- A total of five days were spent on my quest in Shallow kingdom.

But, it's still within my estimate.

Although we met many problems along the way, the main purpose of the journey was achieved!

On that note, I didn't see an Adventurer's Guild in that city; shame, I wanted to take a look at it.

Also, the incidents in the Shallow Kingdom has sadly prevented me from further research on this world history and my purpose... well, it can't be helped.

But, I was satisfied with my new comrades! And, I obtained the sacred artifact.

Though I could hardly obtain 4 new companions and was exiled from the Shallow kingdom, this trip didn't end in complete success.

HUH!Facebook.

I haven't heard this word since I came here.

It seems like more people besides Ignis, Mineka and I were summoned into this world during the different timeframes. But, Question still remains why the hell was I summoned into this world and what is my purpose here? Ignis was summoned by Empire but Mineka and I have no such backing to lean on.

Sacred artifact or shallow book as I like to call it has proved useless so far. It has a lock on it which need a password. Unfortunately, King didn't have knowledge of any such password. So, Shallow book is just a deadweight for me.

When we return to the camp, I introduced Demure group to the rest. It didn't go as smooth as I thought. Goblins and Demons were preparing to attack the kingdom and Rimel was trying to persuade them against it. There were also Mineka and some new addition of local Giants who were just tamed by Jacob and his group.

This entire scene really terrified the newcomer and surprised how monsters follow my order.

"That's amazing!! How are you able to control them?"

"It must be...... some kind ...... magic. Right!!"

One of them can't even speak right. That's how surprised they were.

"We have to leave before nightfall so prepare the tents."

Hearing my word, Jacob stood upright as if at attention

"Acknowledge my lord!"

Jacob consented and return back to his fellow demons.

The King's knowledge about our movement really scared me. If I had a choice, I would love to stay in the Shallow kingdom but regrettably, the king had exiled me and my army and issued an order for us to be attacked if we haven't left his territory by tomorrow so we were again forced into the lost forest.

It's still morning, so, we got plenty of time to leave this frozen landscape and escape into the lost forest before night.

(So how was the trip?)

I pick up the small Mineka from the couch. Spending days without it had made me realize that it is really difficult to deal with people here without proper sword training.

"Great! I got a chance to enjoy the company of some elven woman and I got what I wanted. So, the trip was somewhat a success."

(Iblis! I still think you should have allied with Ignis.)

"Shut it!! He is enjoying life here. He would never help us escape this hell."

(But still... Is he really worse than goblin?)

"No! but he could help us no matter what? Anyway did you send Namra on some scouting quest? I didn't seem her here. We have to leave soon."

(Namra left! A group of Al-Gharabian came and took Namra with them. Rimel didn't told you about that.)

"No! she mentioned no such thing to me."

(You should ask her. Namra talked to her before leaving.)

-No, I can't be. Did they came all the way here for her?

Throwing Mineka back on the couch, I rushed to find Rimel. After running through the busy camp, I located Rimel near one of the tent packing her stuff. I ran towards her and grab her by both her shoulders.

"Rimel!! Why did Namra leave?!"

I shouted out at surprised at Namra sudden departure to Rimel who was packing her bag.

"Uh! What....!!!...... Namra!!! she said someone named Announcer needs her so she decided to go with them."

What? Announcer! Didn't he died in the warehouse fire? Why had he chased us all the way to the Shallow Kingdom for Namra?

Maybe, it is for the best. I can't always babysit her but...

"Where are we heading to? Iblis"

Jacob, not a bit bothered about my reaction on Namra sudden departure shout out to me.

That's a hard question!

We can't stay in the lost forest forever. We need a definite home and a place where we can stay until I can find more answer.

We can't go to Empire after fooling them.

We can't go to Republic after stealing from them.

We can't go to Al-Gharib after killing a top official.

We can't stay in the shallow kingdom after being exiled.

Other nations are too far for us to reach.

So, the only option left is...

"We don't have a place to go so we will build a new nation to call home."

"Huh?!!"

Rimel seems confused by my random statement. But..

"So Al-Gharib?"

Jacob inquired with a face that clearly says 'finally!'.

I simply nod to his remark.

I believe its time to free the people of Al-Gharib from the succubus and find Namra.

Afterall, It is the weakest nation.

Demon lord Army

Humans: 5

Demons: 7

Goblins: 230

Giants: 25