Chapter 33: Just As Planned [MOON]

Sleeping on the couch is certainly not a pleasant experience. Wooden frame with cushions are a lot to be desired. However, it beats sleeping on solid ground indefinitely. The amount of times I had to sleep on the ground with only grasses and stones is not something I wish to relive again. It hurts the back after a number of times.

It was close to dawn now and I was partially asleep. Think of it as though your eyes are closed, your brain is partially asleep but you can still hear things happening around you. I heard someone opening a door and was walking around. Maybe one of them wanted to get a glass of water so I just continued to keep my eyes shut. But something unexpected happened. I felt someone creeping on the cushions that I am sleeping on. I can feel the cushion getting depressed from someone's weight. Is it Lily? I told her we shouldn't be doing anything naughty after that one time. I want to focus on settling my problems before engaging in any relationship.

I opened my eyes and almost said Lily's name out loud but I was shocked. In front of me was Rose staring at my eyes. Is she.. wearing glasses?! And what is she wearing?? Her matured body with those sexy clothings and long hair are definitely making my little brother react. Calm down you moron, CALM DOWN!

"Rose, what are you doing? Why are you wearing glasses and those clothes?" I asked her softly as to not raise a ruckus.

"It is one of your fetish, isn't it? You told me that you loved me before you left the city. But then you went and slept with Lily after that. And now you told me that you love both of us. What are you trying to do to me, onii-chan?" she whispered to me.

"What do you mean? I really do love you, Rose. But now is not the right time to be dating with either of you," I said softly.

"That is not fair to me or Lily. We can't be waiting for you forever. I had turned down so many other guys that approached me because I told myself that you will might come back and choose me. Yet... you went and sleep with Lily. Why am I such a fool? Why did I think I stand a chance?" she said as tears started to flow from her eyes.

I used my fingers to wipe away her tears and placed my hand on her left cheek.

"You're right. I am selfish indeed. I should have stopped it from happening. I am so sorry, Rose. I really am," I said to her.

"No.. you are not sorry. You had your fun with her and yet you still didn't have the guts to choose her. I had already resigned to the fact that you will choose her over me. Yet you remained indecisive even after four years!" said Rose.

She was getting much louder now. I placed my finger on her lips to remind her to be quiet. Out of nowhere, she started to lick my finger. What the hell is she doing?!

"Rose, stop that," I said while pulling my finger away.

"No, I won't. Lily had her fun, I want to have mine too. Give me something for making me wait for so long," she said.

"You.. want me to sleep with you? Are you for real?" I asked her.

"Maybe not to that extend. Maybe.. just... a kiss" she moved her face closer as she was finishing her sentence.

I never thought there would be a day that I would kiss my little sister. I am sure you would be screaming 'INCEST!' but she is not blood-related to me in any way possible. She was just a little girl that I happened to save on that fateful night.

We did a little bit more than kissing but I stopped myself from going too far. Perhaps Rose was wanting more but I do not wish to repeat with what had happened with Lily. I am so glad Rose did not forcefully jumped on me like Lily did.

I gave her another passionate kiss before I headed out her room. I'll be cooking breakfast for today as I am confident with my cooking skills now. A proper meal is sorely needed before heading off to an important guild council meeting that will be held later.

***

I cooked a decent meal for breakfast. Lily was never an early riser which I found out after being with her for two years. She came out of my room with a messy hair and sleepy eyes. It was not until Rose pointed out to her that she fully awake herself and rushed into the washroom to get herself ready.

I sat on the couch while waiting for Lily to get ready. Rose was sitting on the dining chair while playing with her long hair. I’m surprised that she was willing to outgrow her hair as she had always kept it at shoulder length. Perhaps she wanted to look more matured by keeping it longer.

Q appeared from the floor to deliver the papers. How long has it been since I saw him. Ever since I left City Of Pines, he had been delivering them to Rose instead. Time to give him a belly rub after such a long time. Rose came over to take the papers while I was busy giving Q his belly rub. So soft and chubby~

“Rose, when are you going to remove your glasses. I think you had your fun by now?” I asked her.

“If it bothers you that much then how about you remove them?” she said.

What the? Is she being spoiled right now? Someone is in need for some spanking.

I approached her while she pointed her face at me. As I removed her glasses, her eyes was practically sparkling. I know what that sign means. I moved closer but gave her a peck on her cheek instead. No reward for spoiled brat.

Just then, Lily came out from the washroom after putting her face on. It is always amazing what females can do with time and some makeup. As I was planning to set the table seeing that Lily was done, Rose yanked my hand, grab my cheeks and kissed me on the lips directly.

I was caught unaware and it took me a few seconds for my brain to register. I pushed her back with a "What the hell?!". She then looked at Lily and said "Now we're even". Lily just sighed. What is going on with these two.

I squinted as I looked at the both of them. I need to set some ground rules from now on.

"No more kissing or doing anything romantic with me until I resolved everything that needs to be done," I said to the both of them.

"Bold of you to assume that we are part of your harem, Onii-chan," said Rose.

"Who was the one who kissed me out of the blue just a few seconds ago?" I said while squinting at her.

"Alright, you two naughty siblings, let's eat," said Lily. I am surprised she was acting so calm. Almost like a mother. Wait, she is not, is she?

We finally sat down and ate our breakfast. I received praise for the meal I cooked. According to Rose, it was a huge improvement from what she ate the last time. I certainly had been polishing my skills from my time with the elves and at the Eastern continent. Lily had been eating my prepared meals for two years so all she said was "it's good as always". She was lucky that she weren’t my guinea pig in the early days.

I took the opportunity to tutor them about what Peter Borage had taught me about the effects of using the types of State Of Mind. It would appear that Sladar had just glanced over that topic at the Demon continent. Focused State Of Mind AKA Concentration increases one's spell power and efficiency. It also increases all your stats by five to ten depending on how efficient you use it. This is called the imperfect version.

The perfect version on the other hand is where you are able to force an enemy to target you. It is similar to the Taunt spell but that one is short-ranged and targets a few enemies to target you while losing themselves. This perfect Concentration reduces the amount of stats and spell efficiency in exchange for forcing an enemy to target you. The beauty about Concentration is that it only affects one target and does not affect your surroundings unlike the Higher or Absolute State Of Mind. While you can keep alternating your Concentration between a few targets, it would be better to use the imperfect version when fighting a crowd of enemies so as to maximise all your buffs.

Moving on to the Higher State Of Mind. Similar to Concentration, both aggressive and passive path increases the spell's efficiency and stats to a higher degree. However, Bloodlust causes the surrounding enemies to go into a frenzy state while Focused Meditation on other hand, affects the surrounding allies by calming their minds. While it does not sound like much, a calm mind is more effective in combat over a rash one. Unless you are a demon.

Lastly and perhaps the most unexplored one, is the Absolute State Of Mind. According to Peter, if it wasn't for Ivy Moonshine fighting alongside the opposing force, everyone would had succumbed to the Demon King's Blood Rage. Blood Rage drastically increases the intensity of the frenzy state while also giving a minor Bloodlust effect to other demons. From what Ivy told him, Effortless Meditation do indeed calm the mind of all the allies but with an extra twist, any surrounding allies will receive buffs that is similar to using imperfect Concentration. This gives the opposing forces some edge to win the war. She spent centuries in perfecting her Effortless Meditation that she can constantly use it without straining her mind now. Think of it like her body is so adapted in combat that it moves automatic without needing to use her brain.

All these can be countered IF you have stronger willpower and mental fortitude. Easier said than done but that is just the way it is. Which is why I am thankful to Peter for willingly teach me on how to use both perfect and imperfect version of Concentration. Sadly, I am not able to use any Higher State Of Mind. Peter was indeed surprised that I am able to use both path. It was certainly unheard of but he was willing to teach me on how both ways worked. All that is left is how I unlock it myself.

Rose mentioned that she tried to learn it on her own but was unsuccessful. She did not have any tutor to guide her on how to even to begin to use Concentration. Lily on the other hand only managed to learn the imperfect version during the time we spent in the elven forest. Strangely, she had never managed once defeated me in sparring combat even though the both of us was using the imperfect Concentration. She said that my speed was ridiculously too fast for her to follow. She regretted in not being able to follow me to the Eastern continent but she had things she needed to do in the City Of Pines. A certain someone had tasked her with a number of important errands to set things in motion for the plan which I am certainly thankful for.

Rose wanted to ask about what the plan is all about but I told her that the discussion will be held later. No point in discussing twice. Well, I guess it is time for us to prepare for the council and head out. It was located in a hidden basement in one of the West building close to the wall. This secret hideout had been serving all the guilds whenever there were any questionable things to discuss about.

We arrived at the hideout while hiding our identities. Rose and Lily was wearing a normal leather cloak while I had my beautiful red dragonhide cloak that was gifted by none other than Peter himself. Soaked in black, of course. He was absolutely fond of my parents and treated me like I was his child. Warm, loving and caring is what I would describe Peter despite being number three in the four great powers.

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Come to think of it, I had not given my green dragonhide cloak to a new owner. Perhaps I will gift it to either Rose or Lily after deciding on who I want to go out with. Provided any of them still wishes to date me after I am done with my revenge plot.

No, wait. I should pass to Lily instead as she always wear her outfit that exposes her belly and thighs. She said it’s to allow her better mobility and movement but I told her that it exposes you to direct injury as well. Will have to find the right opportunity to pass to her.

"Brother, it's been a while," said John while he gave me a bro hug.

"You are awfully fit now, brother. What crazy workout did you undergo to achieve this?" I asked him while returning his hug.

"The brutal kind, I assure you. Not to mention it was necessary for me in order to use Bloodlust properly. I cannot even begin to tell you how hard it is to control that amount of power and ensuring that you don't turn your allies into a frenzy state instead. Humans are not meant to have such power I tell ya," he explained to me.

I pat him in the back telling him that he is the strongest among us now. He denied and said that I am still the owner of that title. Even using Bloodlust, he was still not strong enough to break through the Underwater Dragon King's scales. I am still the only one that could do it.

I told him that perhaps his new axe will change that for him. His new axe is one of the few legendary weapons that he had the privilege of choosing from the Viking's secret weapon vault. Surprisingly he opted for a one-handed axe unlike his previous two-handed one. But his new axe is something to envy about. Gold and silver plated, shiny and made from the scales of a legendary sea-serpent, it is certainly a sight to behold. I asked John on what's its name and he said that it is called 'Colossal Axe'. Hm, I wonder if it has the same capabilities of a certain flying hammer.

"You are here, Zen. Let us begin. I am certainly intrigued by your plans indeed," said the Dark Lord.

I walked up to him and gave him a hug. He was taken aback by my action but returned a pat on my back. Despite his scary look, this man was the sole reason on why and how both Lily and I managed to escape the city so easily that fateful night. He was the one whole initiated all the plans in the event that my name was ever exposed. With all the help of the other guildmasters, he personally hand-picked the best members to sneak into the castle and which route is the best to escape in.

It certainly took me some time to finally find out that it was actually him that made all those plans. Did not even knew that he cared about me so much.

“I’ve read what you showed us so far. I would say, this is a very interesting report that you showed us. Glad to see that you did not let your feelings cloud your judgments,” said the Paladin Lord.

All the guildmasters are here save for one. The one that has the highest possibility in exposing my family name to the Queen. The Dragon Lord who suspiciously started serving under the Queen just a few days after my name was exposed. According to the other guildmasters, the Dragon Lord had never showed any interest in serving the Queen before. Some foul play must be at work for such drastic changes in the Dragon Lord. Thankfully he did not exposed the escape plan when Lily and I was escaping from the castle.

There is plenty of lookouts and guards around this building to ensure that the Dragon Lord does not invade or place spies this secret meeting. Only trusted members are allowed entry into this building itself.

I spent four years in uncovering everything that I needed to know. From the histories on what the Hawthorn bloodlines did to why the Queen hated the Hawthorn bloodline in the first place. Was there some sort of trigger that caused all these to happen?

Firstly, I asked the elves and the Eastern continent as to what atrocities did the Hawthorn bloodline had done that could incur the Queen to force such drastic measures in the first place. None of them had any answers on it. Even Peter Borage himself was furious about the Queen’s sudden verdict and action to commit genocide on the Hawthorn bloodline.

He was amazed at the fact that there was even a Hawthorn bloodline still alive, kicking and living in the Western continent without getting caught. Not to mention the son of the war hero himself. He tried his best to rescue as many Hawthorn families as he could but sadly, most of them lived on the Western continent. And when the order was executed, it was too late.

The Queen had planned everything while keeping her agenda a secret. On the day of the announcement, many Hawthorn families were dead before news even reached the Eastern continent. As the Hawthorns were mostly nobles, most of them lived in the city. Only those that lived outside of the city managed to escape but there were too little. Today, only a handful of Hawthorn family remained in the Eastern continent. And by handful, it can be counted both hands in total.

Peter marched to talk with the Queen and demanded to know why the Hawthorn family suddenly deserved such verdict when they were heroes in everyone’s eyes. The Queen said that the Hawthorn bloodline had long been doing corruptions and atrocities to other families. In order to celebrate a new era after the war where there is joy and happiness, bad weeds must be exterminated. She also pointed out that the only deserving hero in the Hawthorn family was Jack while the others are schemers, rapists or criminal mastermind. In order to ensure that Jack’s glory is retained throughout time instead of overwritten by any potential criminal acts from the other family members, it would be better to eliminate them before any of it happens.

Peter was taken aback by her verdict. While it was true that the Hawthorn families were not perfect and some of her accusations were not without merits. But to order the entire extermination of the Hawthorn bloodline is unthinkable.

Peter very nearly declared war with the Queen that day but his advisors stopped him. To incite another war right after the Demon War will not only incur more deaths but both cities will no longer find peace and will forever be at odds with one another.

So, what am I suppose to do with this information? So far, what I know is that the Queen hadcommitted genocide based on a rash decision. There must be more to this story than meets the eye. Peter thought the same and did some investigation on why the Queen behaved this way. She had never ordered her soldiers to commit such drastic massacre in her entire life nor did any of her predecessors. The Queen had always been known for her kind and gentle nature but immediately after the Demon War, her attitude turned for a 180.

There can be only one thing, an impostor had replaced the Queen. Such atrocity should be ejected into the void. But no matter how much investigation he conducted, there was no evidence that she was being replaced or anything. Even an “accident” in spilling a face removal solution on her face yielded no result.

But one strange information was that the Queen did not seemed to age at all. She revealed to the public that she had elven blood running in her veins. This aroused suspicion as there was no evidence or record that her family bloodline had married or had relationship with the elves before. The royal bloodline had always been pure and only pure human royalties can even dream of asking a hand in marriage with the princesses. Can the Queen be the result of a hush-hush relationship between the previous King and an elf?

Either way, Peter is certainly willing to wage war with the Queen seeing as the hero’s son was almost killed by her orders. This completely contradicts her remark that Jack was supposedly a hero in her eyes. Here is the direct bloodline of Jack himself and yet she still declared me as a traitor. But that is not the sole reason as to why Peter wishes to overthrow the Queen of City Of Pines. The city had always been a thorn to the City of Heliotrope Ixia. Always demanding for unreasonable trading prices, secretly ordering bandits to intercept high value commodities or people and demanding ransom from City of Heliotrope Ixia. While this does not mean that the Queen is involved, the odds of normal bandits or thieves knowing the exact location and day of those events taking place is low. Yet it has been happening way too frequently for the past many years. All of this adds up and the city’s economy has been going downhill due to the unreasonable demands from the Western continent.

The Eastern continent does not have fertile lands hence it was very dependent on the West for a lot of their food supplies. What they have are minerals or valuable materials that they can use for trading. It used to be sufficient enough as the City Of Pines was never as demanding before. It had always been fair trade before. Imagine a ship full of fresh goods and only costing a barrel of valuable minerals. Now, it requires up to five barrels just to have half a ship of fresh goods. It is certainly not inflation but downright greed. City of Heliotrope Ixia would not last another decade if this goes on.

Alright, so I have the entire might of City of Heliotrope Ixia behind my back. Who else can I depend to backup if we wage war with the City Of Pines?

Peter and Lily requested an audience to meet with the elves. Ivy Moonshine to be specific. However, she was not in this realm. Another high ranking Moonshine took upon her role to discuss on the possibility of going to war with the City Of Pines. The elves were not keen on waging war with the humans. Elves had always preferred peace over conflict. But after many days of discussion and persuasion, a few of the elven families were willing to help out. Peter was disappointed that the elves were not willing to provide more help. If Ivy was here, she would had said yes immediately. The bond between the three great powers are much thicker than blood. All three of them fought together for many years whenever there was a threat too great for anyone else arises.

Seems like I have enough fighting force to wage a war now. But I needed something more. Some kind of damning evidence that deserves to wage war with the Queen and not just based on a grudge. While what she did to the Hawthorn bloodline was downright terrible, I was not there to experience it. I am not so noble as to declare war just because I am a Hawthorn myself. The only thing she did was kicked me out of City Of Pines and exiled me. I shouldn't declare war just because of that, right?

I discussed with Peter about the possibility that the Queen might not be who she seemed. Can it be some mythical being or something had replaced the Queen after the Demon War? I brought up the idea that the Underwater Dragon King was capable of shapeshifting into a human. Peter seemed intrigued by the idea. But it would be much harder for us to uncover that secret as opposed to just wearing a face mask. Years of planning and insider information is sorely needed.

I am not sure why but I had a hunch that Sladar might know something. One thing to know about Sladar is that he is ridiculously resourceful and his information gathering is second to none. A request was sent to the Northern continent to request for Sladar to come to the Eastern continent for a meeting. Within a week, Sladar arrived.

I was genuinely surprised when the both of them gave each other a bro hug after they were away from prying eyes. Seems like the only outcast within the four great powers is the fourth member. Perhaps if I'm able to kill Tom then I'll be able to take over and be the fourth member. One can only dream.

I asked Sladar on whether he had heard or uncovered any secrets about the City Of Pines. Surprisingly, he brought up an incident that aroused suspicion for him. It was common for the Western continent to do some trading with the two towns of the Northern continent but both towns was located on the southern side of the continent. However, once in a blue moon, a ship from the Western continent will sail to the northern part of the Northern continent. There is absolutely nothing noteworthy there for the ship to set sail to except for demons. Sladar once tracked the ship and was surprised to see a few reptilians disembarking from the ship.

He tried to tail them but they disappeared quickly. He waited for them to return but it was demons who boarded the ship instead. How odd as the ship is supposedly heading back to the port at the Western continent directly. There is no way those demons will survive upon disembarking at the port. There are elite soldiers and adventurers stationed there 24/7. Unless, they have figured out the ability to shape-shift. That would be grave news indeed if that was the case. Not only will that be a wake-up call to all the continents, you cannot even distinguish who is a demon in disguise. Sadly, there is not enough solid evidence to support this. But the fact remained that demons are taking ships to somewhere.

Peter was surprised at the fact that Sladar did not inform anyone about this. This would have warrant a major investigation from all continents if they were capable of shape-shifting. However, Sladar had no evidence to support this. It could be that he is mistaken and the demons are perhaps just sailing around the continent itself.

Alright, so how do we investigate on this? Simple, we assign someone at either Western continent ports and monitor for any unusual departure. Mainly reptilians that are going towards the Northern continent. Highly doubt anyone will be able to use the elven port located at the elven forest. After that, send a ship that is built for fast sailing towards the Northern continent town and release a firework to warn Sladar that a ship will be going towards the north side. Sladar will then confront the reptilians and question them on why they choose to disembark in the middle of nowhere. What Sladar choose to do after that, I’ll leave it up to him.

The plan took almost no time at all to sort out. The problem was waiting for that secret ship. A slip of the tongue from anyone can cause the whole plan to fail or perhaps that ship no longer existed. We were all waiting for the plan to fail at a moment’s notice. Days turned to weeks and eventually months. I was closed to calling off the plan as more than half a year had passed without any news whatsoever. So much for looking for solid evidence.

With a stroke of luck, news came eight months after the plan first initiated. Sladar came to deliver the news himself. He informed us on his shocking discovery. Upon confronting the reptilians that were on that mysterious ship, they attacked him immediately. They rushed at him with the intend to kill. He had no choice but to kill all of them even though it left a horrible taste in his mouth. He had never killed a member of his own race before. However, upon the death of the reptilians, their bodies started to morph into the shape of a demon. A very unusual demons, he highlighted. Never before had he seen such slim looking demons that does not have wings or elongated arms but twisted face and flexible bodies.

He scoured the ship for any information whatsoever but there was barely any paperwork or records on-board, save for one. The scroll was written in a foreign language that even Sladar did not understand. However, one thing was clear. At the bottom of the scroll was the signature and stamp of the Queen.

Finally! A jackpot that I have been looking for. An evidence that show the Queen is in cohorts with the demons in some sort of way. Whether she is a demon in disguise or serving them, we will only know after we confronted her.

I handed the scroll in question to all the guildmasters in the room. All of them inspected the scroll. The reports they were reading was from Peter Borage himself. Now an evidence from Sladar is in our hands. Two of the four great powers have vouched on this. Normally, we would had brought this to the board of councils as evidence that the Queen is in cohort with the demons. However, we do not even know who are the demons in disguised in the first place. The diplomatic way will not bring us the results that we desire.

Assuming we go for the peaceful proper method, perhaps the Queen might be arrested. But there is a high possibility that the Queen can just end up morphing to someone else and ending up escaping. Perhaps the guard that arrests her are demons themselves. Too many possibilities of her escaping which we cannot afford. Declaring war ensures that she will remain in power until close to defeat.

What we will be doing is to declare war with the City Of Pines firstly. This is before we bribe or persuade some soldiers to leave the city or abandon their post. These soldiers will be tasked with rescuing civilians flee instead. Those that remained loyal to the Queen, we will have to consider them as casualties of war. The guilds will also do their best to lead civilians to safety.

We are certain those demons in disguised will protect the Queen so as to not foil their long term plan whatever it may be. We will also assign spies to ensure the Queen does not escape during the midst of the war. Perhaps some demons might escape but those cowards will be slain by their own Demon brethren. Cowardice is never something tolerated by the demon race.

All these will be taking place on the same day. This is to minimise any of the potentially disguised soldiers from informing the Queen. I will personally be declaring war with the Queen myself while the others will handle the other tasks assigned to them. By doing this, I paint myself as the main instigator for the war. I do not want the City of Heliotrope Ixia or the elves to be main targets instead.

Everything is in place now. No turning back.

“Your plan seems solid. But there’s one thing. How are you going to escape from the castle? I doubt that you can pull off the same plan that the Dark Lord had planned for a long time. You will need to find a way to escape on your own. Are you able to do that? Do not forget, you are the one pulling all the strings for this war,” said the Elementalist.

“Yes, I am aware of the dangers but I am no longer the same Shadow Knight that you once knew. I am fairly certain that I will be able to escape the castle. You all don’t have to worry about that,” I said to him.

“Very well, I am in favour of this plan. While inciting a war is not something that guildmasters should be doing, I do not wish to serve under a Queen who could potentially be a demon or serving under them,” the Elementalist said.

“Count me in, I’ve never liked the Queen anyway. Consider this an opportunity for me to have some fun trashing the throne room,” said John.

“I am in favour as well. I suspected something was wrong when the Queen acted so differently right after the Demon War. To think she might be a demon in disguise. What say you Dark Lord? Your most favourite member is about to start a war. Do you wish to support him?” said the Paladin Lord.

“If I am not then I won’t be in this meeting. Zen Hawthorn, you are the mastermind for this war. All deaths and decisions will lie in your hands. Act wisely and make the Dark Guild proud. Make me proud,” said the Dark Lord after he thought for a while.

I felt touched after he said that. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. I saluted him with all my respect.

“Thank you all for your support. I will forever be grateful for all your help. With this, I shall declare the potentially second Demon War to commence in a week,” I bowed to everyone.