With the peace conference over, there was no reason to stay in the middle of the landbridge. Therefore, after a suitably phrased suggestion by Pinnacle Kolya, everyone had shifted over to the War Council, whose headquarters was at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress.

Nibbling on some ice-cream, Gemini listened to the great gods and the Five Lands thrash things out, before shrugging. The main issue everyone was grappling with was an utter lack of intelligence. The initial reports about the massive disturbance in the Five Lands had been transmitted over by personnel who had been stationed at the long-destroyed Central Circle.

Although no one had been harmed by the sudden rise of an enormous black tower, it would seem that the Five Lands had been developing the ruins of the Central Circle for some time. Apparently, in some important event called the Conference of the Four, lots of buildings had been constructed there to facilitate the conduct of the conference.

At this point, however, no one was going to whine about the property damage.

As the moon began to rise, the meeting was temporarily adjourned, at which point Gemini went over to Hereward, who was staring blankly at the ceiling. “Hey.”

Hereward stirred. “Yes? How can I help?”

“What am I doing here?” Gemini asked. “There’s no point in me attending this discussion, is there? Especially since my adorable little Demigods decided to come back and sit in on this discussion anyway, no?”

“I was wondering about that, actually. You could have just taken them with you once more, right? It’s not like those Demigods are going to disobey you to your face.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, and Gemini slapped his forehead. “Alright. It seems that I was just wasting my time, right? Never mind. Forget it. I’m heading off now then. Tell me about the proceedings when you drop by for pizza later, and remember to tell my Demigods to go home soon too, before their families murder me for forcing them onto overtime.”

“Now I feel like leaving too,” Hereward murmured. “I forgot about the pizza!”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll enjoy it in your stead,” Gemini replied. “Relax and listen to the comforting drone that is their discussion, okay? I’ll go back and have my dinner now.”

“Damn you, Gemini — oh. Whoops.”

“Whoops?” Gemini tilted his head, and then turned around slowly. Demigod Eliza was standing behind him, a sunny smile on her face, and with a sinking feeling of resignation, Gemini understood that she had overheard his conversation.

“Gemini, eh?” Eliza grinned. “C’mere, you.”

Hereward watched on with undisguised glee as Eliza dragged Gemini out of the small conference room. Fortunately, Gemini wasn’t putting up any resistance, which meant that their departure went unnoticed by everyone save for the amused Sentinel of Space.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

After being dragged into an empty room, Eliza turned around and flicked him on the forehead. “Gemini. That’s you, right?”

“Can I say otherwise?”

“You could, but I won’t believe you.” The Demigod smiled. “Thank the stars. You’re alive. No. You’re…you. Yes. That’s the best way to put it, no? Of course, I already knew the moment Lila came over to tell me about her sudden departure from Ark City, but it was good to have concrete evidence.”

“You knew?”

“Hard not to. Barely a day after the Demon God dies, and Lila runs over with Quinn and Aria to tell me that she’s leaving. It wasn’t hard to connect the dots,” Eliza replied. “That’s why we didn’t bother to send in an invasion force. What’s the point of trying for revenge when the person we’re trying to avenge is the ruler of the Wildlands?”

“Ruler?” Gemini rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was in retirement, you know. Look at it from my point of view. I’ve been killed…three times. Once as a clone. Once by the Phantom Blade, and once more in that final stand of mine. I think I deserve my retirement.”

“But you’re not even thirty years old…”

“Demigods live up to thousands of years old. More importantly, by all accounts, I’m practically immortal. In that case, what’s a good retirement age for me? And on what basis do I need to continue working?” Gemini asked.

Stumped, Eliza changed the topic. “How’s Lila?”

“Enjoying her stress-free life,” he replied. “Right, thank you for looking after Aria and all.”

“Aria…has she learned to speak yet?”

“She can babble, but that’s it,” Gemini replied. “Anyway, I never really got around to thinking about it, but have you gotten in touch with the Ars Tribe? You know, the bunch of demons that fled over to the Five Lands years ago?”

“We have. They’re in an odd state. Half of them wants to go with us, while the other half wants to stick with the Republic,” Eliza replied. “We’re having minor rifts with the Republic as a result, but nothing serious.”

Gemini nodded. “Do tell them they’re free to return to the Wildlands now. The issue with hissatsu has been settled; with the Demon God’s passing, peace has returned…probably, anyway. The Wildlands Council will seek to modernise the nation and whatnot, but I’m not interested in those things.”

“The way you offhandedly brush away a superpower in the making is rather impressive,” Eliza rolled her eyes. “So…well, you should pay a visit to Ark City. Before we” —she rolled her eyes— “march upon yet another common enemy of the world. We seem to be doing that often nowadays.”

“You lot literally did that only once, though…” Gemini rolled his eyes. “On my nation, no less. Shouldn’t the fact that there was some eerie black dome around the Wildlands deter you lot? Why did you all rush in like headless flies?”

“Ark City didn’t. Neither did the North.” Eliza shrugged. “It’s not like we don’t know what the northern half of the Wildlands were like, and the North just wasn’t interested.”

Gemini nodded, and then broached the topic he dreaded the most. “Back during the escape…how many made it out?”

“Of the senators, less than half.” Eliza looked down. “You should visit Ark City some time. There’s a memorial constructed for everyone.”

“I see.” Gemini sighed. “I’ll do that, then. Maybe bring my Demigods along too.”

“…Do tell us before you make a move, though. Everyone’s going to piss their pants if you show up without warning. A great god and a bunch of Demigods will light up our defences like no other.” Eliza chuckled. “Still, now that I think about it, that does sound fun…we’ll talk about that later, then.”

Silently blessing the people behind Ark City’s defences, Gemini made some excuses and returned home.

Lila was probably worried sick by now, after all.