Re: Ascension Rebirth – Choosing the course of his future carefully

Chapter XXII

PART ONE

[Eternum Calendar - Year 990]

Having finally sorted out my feelings and attempts at the suicidal dungeon, I lied down on my bed for the first time in a year. I was getting ready to willingly sleep when I felt an unnerving presence looming overhead. At first I tried to ignore it with all of my might but it was extremely persistent and the annoyance factor was only accentuated when it started to nudge me.

Breaking through my paper thin layer of conviction I gave into the evil spirit looming ahead and opened my eyes.

“Eh?”

The ‘evil spirit’ that was annoying me wasn’t who I thought it was. A small girl was nudging me, still half asleep and hair in a disheveled state. It was [Alice].

“What’s wrong Alice?”

I asked gently.

“Mmm… Can’t sleep.”

“Is that so, then want to sleep here?”

I lifted the blankets and patted onto a vacant area next to me. She gave me a meek nod and entered without hesitation. She started shivering by herself a little but I embraced her and gently patted her to sleep. As she used the rest of my body as a body pillow she went back into deep sleep after only a few minutes.

“You thought that was me?”

I heard a voice coming from my left. Leaning out the open window and into the red covered snow was him, [Aran Callahad]. He gave me an arrogant smirk as he taunted for my small mistake. I slowly pried Alice’s hands away from me and left the bed as well to join him out moon gazing.

“I knew it was Alice.”

“Hah, don’t lie, if you knew it was her then you wouldn’t have ignored her.”

“Ugh… whatever. So what do you want?”

He looks at me as though he’s won some kind of bet, that vile, arrogant smirk, I really wanted to punch his nose in. I felt the tip of my fingers move towards the center of my face once more.

“Weren’t you in the midst of going through your depression? In the end you’ve accepted their help, even if it took a great sacrifice to do so.”

“Hmph, you try living under a ridiculous amount of constant positive support for two years straight. Then have 3 buzzing flies hovering around you so that you don’t accidentally hurt yourself, then have those 3 flies literally doing anything to gain your trust. Not only that, all the children in this orphanage have a similar past, as an adult I can’t just sit by and be depressed all day.”

“That’s right. You’ve already lost your right to be a child 35 years ago. So then, what do you plan on doing now?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do I plan on doing’? isn’t it obvious? The circumstances around me have changed a little but nothing about my plans have. I haven’t forgotten about what ODIN said, an incoming planetary collision along with an entire civilization. The chances of war is high, no, it’s not only high, it’s extremely likely.”

“Right, so then what do you plan on doing about it?”

“I will do my part in that confrontation if it ever comes to it, but know this. I am not the hero of that story, my story ends when I take [Nodens’] life. If by the end of my journey I am still alive then… For now my main goal is more power; I’ve received a substantial buff from [Nyarlathotep], but it is now enough to defeat him.”

“Well, I guess there’s no point in talking about what will happen in the distant future. For now focus on what you have to do.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that.”

The edge of his mouth curve upwards, not in an unpleasant manner like he usually does, he then turns his gaze out towards the large moon in the sky in contemplation.

“So what’s happening with the other three?”

I’m assuming he means [Arachna], [Xotl] and [Lilith].

“Lilith said she wanted to go back to run her shop that was in this city but told me not to hesitate in calling for her whenever I wanted. As for Xotl and Arachna, they said they would prefer to stay unsummoned until necessary. Something about liking the feeling of being unsummoned, I’m guessing it’s akin to a zen-induced hibernation. Arachna said she’d come out later but Xotl would prefer to stay unsummoned.”

“Hmmm… well if that was their decision then it’s fine I guess.”

“It’s not fine. Those guys are unable to make decisions anymore; they’ve lost that ability when they decided to become my servants. Of course I plan to accommodate them to the best of my ability but that’s just an illusion of freedom.”

He shakes his head.

“You’re so rigid, why don’t you loosen up a bit more?”

“Leave me alone, this is just the way I am.”

“I guess that too is true. Then do your best.”

He waves as he disappears into black smoke. Contemplating on those words I decided to go to sleep.

PART TWO

[Transformation - Aspect of the black pharaoh], [Avatar of Nyarlathotep] and [Mental Fortress], those were the three skills that received from the almighty lord of dread. I’ve yet to actually have a chance of using them for myself but from the skill description they sounded extremely useful. Especially [Mental Fortress], it’s a skill that synergies well with my [Undead’s Tenacity]; if I can get both skills to master rank then it should be extremely hard to dent me in any way.

[Transformation - Aspect of the black pharaoh] too is a skill that enhances my base stats. If it’s anything like what I think it is, then most likely I will adopt the form of the ‘Black Pharaoh’ that I saw in that dungeon. It’s a pretty straight forward skill but also very useful, so I should prioritize ranking up this skill as well.

I’m not too sure what [Avatar of Nyarlathotep] actually does, but from the sounds of it, it projects a mass [life drain] effect as well as an effect to make the targets go insane. Honestly just looking at the effects of this I feel like this will drain a lot of stamina to activate and use. If that was the case then it would probably be an inefficient skill to use in a 1v1 scenario, so most likely I would only get mileage from this skill when used against a massive amount of enemies, perhaps against enemy armies.

It seems that even though my [life drain] is gone, I can still use it without summoning the avatar. That’s a good news since it was one of the more useful skills.

Other than that, from this point onwards I would probably need a primary weapon to use in combat. That’s not to say that [shadow lance] and [shadow shield] were bad but rather than constantly summoning them, having a weapon would be more efficient and effective. Since I already have the sword hilt, perhaps a sword would be a good idea, though I want something that could take advantage of my [strength] stat.

Wait, maybe I could do that-

“Morgant? Morgant? Are you listening to me?”

Interrupting my train of thought was the high pitched voice of a girl. It was Alice, with her arms on her waist and standing tall she glared at me as I was not paying attention to her words. The frown on her face we extremely evident, unable to find a way out of the situation I ended up apologizing.

“Ah, sorry Alice. I was just thinking about something.”

“Hmph! You have to listen properly because I’m the leader!”

She says as he puffs up her chest.

We were behind the orphanage where we usually hang out as a sort of ad hoc ‘secret hideout’. There was a small shelter so the snow didn’t bother us that much, but still it amazes me how much snow falls and yet we aren’t buried yet. The potentials of magic are cheap.

“What are you talking about? Who made you the leader?”

Interjecting her statement was a [Ren] who was silently sitting beside me while tampering with some gizmo. Despite his docile looks he’s rather competitive and looks down on people who he thinks is less intelligent; in other words he has a lot of pride, and because of their personality, he and Alice end up arguing most of the time.

“What are you talking about? I’m the leader because I’m the smartest and strongest between all of us!”

Alice boasts as though it was supposed to be common knowledge, and not being able to accept that statement Ren objects when then turns into a physical struggle between children.

“G- guys, let’s stop, okay? Please stop...”

[Celina] protests from the back with teary eyes, her presence in this situation was almost non-existent. She shoots me a look as if to say she was asking me to do something about it, and with her large teary eyes it wasn’t like I could refuse.

I sighed as I easily pried them away with my enormous numeric advantage.

“It’s time to stop you two.”

“Heh! See that, Alice? Morgant to pry us away with no problem! He’s the strongest amongst us and I’m obviously the smartest!”

“What did you say?!”

Alice tries to go for a second round but with my pro-level blocking I made sure that her intentions never came to fruition.

Now then, to be fair, excluding me, Alice was indeed the highest level amongst them.

[Alice. Level 14, Apprentice Swordswoman]

[Ren. Level 13, Apprentice Tinkerer]

[Celina. Level 12, Apprentice Cleric]

Those were definitely some impressive levels for children, I admit.

“In any case I won’t accept you being our leader.”

“Grrrr~ hmph, fine then do you think you can do a better job?”

She starts growling at him, but for the most part Alice is mature enough to let things go without holding too much of a grudge. A fact about her that I quite enjoy and think is admirable.

“No, I think Morgant should be our leader. He’s the strongest after all.”

Ren nominates me.

“I- I think Morgant would be the better choice… sorry Alice.”

Celina also joins in which puts Alice in a bad mood but she sighs and nods.

“Well… I guess it’s majority rules, so Morgant will be the leader.”

Alice says in disappointment, and thus I was made into the leader of the children’s play squad, a fact that doesn’t make me happy in the least. How did I go from managing a multi-trillion dollar conglomerate to managing three children? Well, I decided to play along and offer them a smile and bowed.

“I’m honored you all think that way. Then I will try my best.”

“You don’t look too happy.”

Alice comments as she carefully observes.

“Well, no I’m very happy-“

“Morgant~? You have a visitor.”

As I was about to object to Alice’s suspicions I was interrupted by Diana who had brought along another person, my ‘visitor’. A man in his mid twenties, with brown hair that was tied up neatly into small ponytail, a face that perfectly outlined his bone structure but not in an unhealthy manner and his dark colored eyes that seemed to observe the world around him calmly.

He shot me a ‘pleasant’ smile that was clearly riddled with hidden agendas.

[Enrich. Level 31, Cleric]

Hmmm, from the looks of it he was a [human]. Level 31 was a notable level but nothing too spectacular, barely better from average adventurers. I don’t believe I’ve ever met this man before so the only real connection I’m drawing is either someone from North Ariadyne, but no one should know I was taking to this continent so that’s unlikely.

The second is the demon lord’s forces. While it’s also true that I have yet to inform them of my arrival to the Northern continent, if Lilith could figure out I was here then [Kyrios], who is in charge of [Astaroth’s] intelligence network should have a vague idea as well. Of course there’s no law against a human working alongside the demon lord’s forces.

“Diana. This man is?”

Trying to gather more information through idle exchange I asked while maintaining a pleasant façade.

“This man’s name is Enrich, he said he knew you and had some business with you.”

It’s doubtful to think that Diana would let a random stranger come see me, so she must’ve done at least a rudimentary level background check. He won’t be a danger to the children, well I was at a much higher level than him so it wasn’t too important, if push came to shove I could overpower him.

Maintaining my façade I played along with him.

“Yes of course, then I’ll will honor his wish and have a chat in private then.”

“Yes do be careful~”

Diana answers with a smile of an almost unfair level of pleasantness. Unfair in the sense that I may be falling in love with her against my will, well that was just a hyperbole but you get the picture.

PART THREE

There was a small flower shop near the orphanage that I guided our venerable guest, ‘Mister Enrich’. After proving to the orphanage caretakers of how capable I was I had gotten permission to leave the premises of the building unattended.

The small flower shop in the middle of a snow covered town had bright lit sign post reading ‘Lilith’s Flower Emporium’ with several seizure inducing mana stones flashing about like it was Christmas. For starters I don’t think this girl understands what ‘Emporium’ means because this was a small corner shop, and secondly I would love to see the process of growing flowers like these in such a harsh winter climate. Whatever, I’ll try my best to push it off to the edge of my memories.

I replied with a smile and entered the premises, as we enter the jingling of bells could be heard from the bells attached to the door.

“Ah! W- Welcome - wah!”

Failing to even accomplish the most basic of tasks such as ‘greetings’, this clumsy and flighty girl tried to run out from behind the counter but fell, planting her face flat onto the floor and with her buttocks facing upwards. It was such a waste for a woman so pretty like her to be donning such a shameful pose.

I mean, objectively speaking her looks exceeded even the most beautiful of women in this world, and her ‘assets’ exceeded the industry average. Though I suppose coming from a [succubus] that’s not a surprise.

Lilith gets up from the floor, sitting upright she starts rubbing her face. Her blazing red hair full of dust and flower pedals, I moved closer to her and helped her brush off the junk.

“Th- thank you-?! L- Lord Morgant?!”

“Yes, yes. You don’t need to shout every time.”

I sighed.

“S- sorry!”

I sighed once more.

“S- sorry!”

I kept quiet as Enrich looked back at me with an amused expression. Lilith De Signa… she needs a lot of improvements, it’s almost hard to believe that she’s the daughter of THAT free spirited demon lord.

“Umm, could it be that you’re the daughter of the demon lord, Astaroth De Signa?”

Enrich asks as he approaches but when he did something curious happened.

“Hii!”

Lilith struggled backwards in fright.

“Eh?”

She started to shiver, noticing this Enrich moved forward to over his coat over to hear thinking she was cold.

“S- stay back, please!”

Almost as though she has seen a ghost she shouts while moving her hands forward to a defensive gesture. If somewhere to look at this from a 3rd person’s perspective and without proper context they would think Enrich was some sort of sex offender. A rather amusing thought, I could barely contain my laughter at the image of him being arrested by the local police, but I digress. I do think she might’ve been overreacting a little.

“What’s wrong Lilith?”

As Enrich takes a step back I moved forward.

“S- sorry, it’s just that… I’m a little scared.”

“Scared?”

Enrich and I turn to each other in confusion. I thought he might’ve had an idea of what she was talking about be he looks as lost as I was.

“I… I’m not good with men.”

She confesses.

“Eh? Wait… eh? Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t a [Succubus] live off the essence of men? Or was that just a preconception on my part?”

“No… I don’t think you’re mistaken either.”

Enrich affirms my beliefs. Suddenly Lilith starts to breath heavily and her face becomes flustered and red. Wondering what was going on now I approached her closer and placed my hand on her forehead. It doesn’t seem like she has the same aversion towards me as she does with Enrich, maybe because my body is that of a ten year old?

Her forehead feels extraordinarily hot, to the point that I couldn’t leave my hands on her head for more than 5 seconds.

“You! You’re sick! Why are you running about with this shop if you’re that ill?!”

I reproach her.

“S- sorry…”

I didn’t want her apology I wanted to know what kind of disease it was and how to remedy this situation. I turned to Enrich for any suggestions, to which he places his hands on his chin and thinks for a bit as he observes Lilith’s condition from afar.

“Perhaps… she’s just hungry?”

“Hungry?”

I ask for clarification.

“I haven’t really seen it firsthand myself but I have read about it. Her conditions are similar to those who’s low on mana. It’s said that if a [succubus’] mana isn’t restored they will eventually die, or at least that’s what I’ve read. I don’t know how true that information is but I don’t think it would be wise to test that theory.”

I nodded in agreement.

“So then, what do we do? Don’t tell me we actually have to do ‘that’.”

Once again he places his hands on his chin and contemplates.

“This is quite troublesome, if we leave her be she’ll most likely perish, although being afraid of men probably means that she wasn’t able to replenish her mana. A difficult problem indeed, although I’ve also heard that [succubus] of the royal blood don’t necessarily need the essence of men, perhaps that information was wrong.”

“That… only half true… after a certain age I won’t require it… but for now I still…”

I crouched down and stared at her dwindling consciousness.

“How have you even survived up til now?”

“My… mother used to share some of her mana with me…”

And now that Lilith has run away from home she has also forgone receiving mana. Did she not have any plans as she ran away? Was this an impulsive decision? In any case this was simply a temporary problem so a temporary solution was fine, right?

“So then we really need, ‘reproductive fluid’ after all?”

I ask once more.

“I do believe that may be the case, the essence of men is used to replenish a [succubus’] mana after all. I have heard that in emergencies blood could be used as substitute, but since blood is less virile, a considerable amount is required and in most cases the men would die from having too much of their blood drawn. Besides, the problem is that she’s afraid of men so whether it’s ‘reproductive fluid. ’ or blood it wouldn’t matter either way.”

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

After his explanation he looks at me with a wicked, almost perverse smile. I know what he’s thinking, I think we all know what he’s trying to insinuate. If there really was no other way then I suppose I would consider it but it’s not like we’re totally out of options.

“Enrich, you can use restorative magic, right?”

I asked him, well he was a cleric so that should be obvious.

“Yes of course, why do you ask?”

Letting out a sigh I rolled up the sleeves of my left arm.

“Here, drink.”

I placed my left arm in front of Lilith’s face.

“Eh…?”

Both Enrich and Lilith looked at me with surprise, then Enrich gave out an expression as if to say he understood my intentions. The only one who was behind the curve was Lilith who had an expression as though she’s heard the most unbelievable thing ever, maybe she has.

“I… I can’t possibly, Lord Morgant will die…”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

I replied as I eyed Enrich.

“Are you sure about this? Unlike [Vampires], [Succubi] do not posses fangs that could easily penetrate human skin. You’d be subject to an intense pain of being bitten.”

[Undead’s tenacity] means that she won’t be able to penetrate my skin, which in turn means I’ll have to deactivate it. So no doubt it’d be extremely painful but I’ve already been subjected to worse.

“You let me worry about that. Now drink, Lilith.”

She shakes her head and tries to back off even more, but backs up against a wall. She tried to run away but due to her exhaustion she fell down face first once again.

“No, please don’t. I’d rather die than to cause you such a pain.”

I let out a sigh, I had guessed that’s what she would say. I don’t really have a choice but I’ll be exercising my right to decline her right to refuse.

“Lilith, this is an order as your master. I command you to drink.”

She struggles against her body for a bit but overall she is unable to and immediately sinks her teeth into my skin. At first an intense pain overcame me, but through remembering my time in the jaws of a monster I thought to myself that this wasn’t ‘as bad’ as that one time.

“Kuh…”

I continued to convince myself of that as I endured the pain, with Enrich applying the strongest healing spells he had as his disposal. After around five minutes it was all over, but to me it felt a lot longer than that. Slowly unhinging her jaw from my left arm she stared at the wound she inflicted with a clearly horrified expression, though it wasn’t as though I couldn’t understand her feelings.

“S- sorry… Sorry…”

After my wound was completely healed with Enrich’s healing magic I was starting to feel a lot better though my head felt weightless. Lilith embraced me as she cried and apologized, I took advantage of that to check her temperature and it had indeed gone down.

Enrich himself looked rather light headed as well after continuously using so much magic in a quick burst.

“It’s fine Lilith. You don’t have anything to apologize for, I’m the one who forced you to anyway.”

Admittedly this would’ve been a lot less painful if I had just done the deed but well that would also be kind of cruel to her. Since she was that afraid of men she’s probably still ‘pure’ and I wouldn’t want to take that away from her if there was another way.

PART FOUR

We rested up a bit before we really decide into the real topic at hand, which was why my mysterious guest arrived. We sat around a small coffee table as Lilith brought out some beverages. Incidentally there was no such thing as ‘coffee’ in this world, I was just calling this ‘tea table’ as ‘coffee table’ because I was more used to that.

She hands me the tea cup with a small blush as she averts her gaze. She also hands another cup to Enrich, albeit in a more frightened manner, I guess it wouldn’t be that easy to get over her androphobia.

“Thank you.”

He replied as Lilith handed him a small tea cup, all the while maintaining his smile.

“Now then, Mister Enrich, starting from the top I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”

I told him as I took a sip of my tea.

“Yes, this would be our first meeting, though it was a rather exhilarating first impression, thanks to that I have gotten a good grasp on what kind of character you are.”

He replied as he took a sip of his tea in a similar manner.

“Then to what do I owe the pleasure of having you come all the way to this frozen lands? I doubt it was for simply pleasantries.”

Maintaining his smile he set his cup down and started to drop his façade a little.

“It seems you’re as sharp as the rumors say, to see through me like it was painted on my face. You’re right, it wasn’t for mere pleasantries that I’ve come all the way here, in fact I was sent here to gain some of your counsel.”

“… Huh? Is that a joke?”

“Not at all.”

He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would make stupid or foolish decisions, yet he says he wants my counsel? Regardless of what I am on the inside, on the outside I am a ten year old. Even if I had the honorary position of [Demon General] would you normally ask a kid for advice?

Perhaps there’s a deeper meaning? Maybe a kinship since we’re both [humans]?

“You know I’m a ten year old, right?”

I rebuke him as I take another sip of my tea.

“That I do understand, but it’s plenty obvious that you’re more than a mere ten year old. For starters a normal ten year old wouldn’t have the capabilities of becoming a demon general. It’s the first time for me actually, as ridiculous as it sound, it feels as though I have met an intellectual equal, and not to mention after that brave display I couldn’t help but commend you as my beliefs about you were all confirmed.”

Certainly from his obviously agenda driven personality and his speech mannerism he’s acting different then how he was in front of Diana. An ‘equal’, huh? How nostalgic, back then I used to have a lot of self-proclaimed ‘rivals’ but they were all no good, but I wonder about this man.

“Well, you’re right. I guess I am hiding a lot more things than the average person but for people of our nature that’s the norm right?”

“Indeed.”

He nods in agreement.

“You said you were here under someone else’s orders to gain my counsel? But why me? I’ve only recently joined the demon lord’s forces so my credentials can still be questions and I’m sure there are more credible people to consult over myself, right?”

He pauses in contemplation for a while before resuming to talk.

“That’s because… tell me, how many people do you think exists among the demon lord’s forces that actually posses a strong analytical or strategic mindset?”

“There’s no way I could have the answer to that kind of vague question, but at the least I would assume those in the top position are those kind of ‘smart’ types.”

If the demon army is supposed to represent a company then it would be necessary for all of the head of departments to be talented, however he shakes his head.

“Four… There are only four such people, that is including you and to a lesser extent myself. The other two being the demon lord’s aide, Lord Kyrios and the other being the demon general known as Lord [Ordwell Rommel] the one in charge of the demon lord’s naval force. Unfortunately Lord Ordwell is away and it was Lord Kyrios that sent me to ask you.”

That masked bastard huh? Well, if it was him I can kind of see why he would direct me to him. And ‘Ordwell Rommel’? sounds vaguely German, but of course that doesn’t exist in this world anymore. Now that I think about it, I’m unfamiliar with the other generals aside from [Cedric]. Though to be honest now that Enrich is here I have a sneaking sensation I’ll probably get acquainted with them sooner or later.

Whether that would be under good terms is debateable. Enrich came straight to me under Kyrios’ orders, that means it’s something he can’t bring up with anyone of a status lower than ‘demon general’. I can only think of two situations in which those conditions would fit, either the crimson knights or Nodens’ forces did something or it was one of our own.

If that’s the case…

“I guess there’s no real reason for me to reject your request. Very well then, tell me what the problem is.”

He gives me a nod and a fake smile.

“Thank you, I appreciate it. You see, while I work as a diplomat for the [demon] race, I also have an addition job of monitoring and organizing the movements of the demon lord’s forces. Though it’s nothing as grand as you think, it’s simply a mundane task of organizing the movements of the army and selecting more efficient routes or finding ideal locations for training drills.”

Well from that I got a fairly good idea what he was trying to say.

“And you’ve noticed an inconsistency in the movement of the army.”

He nods.

“Correct, to be specific it has to do with Lord [Andras Silverfang’s] forces. They’ve often gone AWOL or some of them simply straight up MIA. Lord Andras herself from time to time disappear without much say either. It seems Lord Kyrios believes this is a tacit admission of betrayal but wishes to hear a secondary opinion before he acts.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have too much information concerning the other demon generals, I guess I should’ve done more research on them. But from what I know don’t demon generals usually have a large degree of freedom? I mean I haven’t been called to action and have been doing whatever I wanted for the past few years.”

“You’re an exception, though you’re also not too wrong about the amount of freedom given to each general. Though it may not be my place to say it, Lord Kyrios and Lord Andras have also had bad blood between them so it is not unthinkable to think that Lord Kyrios is only thinking of the worst case scenario.”

“’Silverfang’, so she’s a [Therianthrope]?”

“A breed of werewolf, yes. Though there have been some dubious rumors concerning her true origin.”

“And by that you mean?”

“I assume you know of the war between the heaven’s forces and demon lord’s forces that took place decades ago.”

I give a nod.

“Right, I’ve been told.”

“During that time the ones who suffered the greatest amount of loss were the werewolves, to the point that they were driven to near extinction, yet in only a few short decades they’ve managed to recoup their numbers. Strange is it not?”

“I can’t say I have too much information regarding [Therianthrope] breeding patterns but if they're anything like humans, perhaps.”

“There’s been a rumor that the previous generation of werewolves kidnapped humans and forcefully turned them into werewolves. The method was unknown, it could’ve been magic, a curse, alchemy…”

“I see, so then if this rumor were to be true then the surviving members of the human turned werewolves are plotting revenge?”

He nods.

“That’s what Lord Kyrios suspects.”

Hmm, such a scenario isn’t unthinkable; if they were truly captured against their will and turned into monsters then I could certainly understand. To be honest even if I try to wrack my brain around it, if I don’t meet them face to face then I probably can’t come to a solid conclusion.

I guess it might be time that I go have a visit the capital of this continent. I’ve yet to properly meet Astaroth either and getting to know my allies would be beneficial.

“To be honest, if all those rumors were true then most likely the betrayal of the werewolves isn’t too farfetched. However is there really a way of validating those rumors?”

“I have sent some agents to do exactly that, but I’ve yet to hear from them.”

“Hmm… since Kyrios has a direct line to Astaroth, I would suggest moving the citizens that live in the capital away temporarily. If battle was really going to take place then it’d be prudent to at least get non-combatants away from the battlefield, but if he is going to do that make sure to tell him to do it in secret. As for you, since you’re in charge of moving the army around use the pretext of a combat drill to move them into a suitable position for ambushing assuming the battle will be taking place in the capital. Though it sounds harsh, make sure no werewolf gets wind of this.”

Enrich gives me a nod.

“That does seem like the only choice we have for that. It may disrupt the flow of economy for a bit but I suppose that’s better than a potential war in the city. I understand then I shall do prepare for that.”

Enrich stands up, signifying that this conversation was at its end. I also follow in his lead and return my tea cup to Lilith. She looks much better than before which was a huge relief. Actually speaking of Lilith how am I going to explain to Astaroth that I turned her daughter into my slave.

I don’t think that conversation is going to go too well.

“Thanks for the tea Lilith.”

“Ah… no it’s quite fine. Thank you for… um… saving me.”

She replies in a flustered manner. I shooter her a smile and leave the coffee shop, I mean flower shop with Enrich.

“Then I’ll be returning to the capital to relay your advice.”

“Yeah, I get the feeling we’ll meet up soon enough.”

He gives me an uneasy smile as if to say that he unfortunately agrees.

PART FIVE

A few days after my initial meeting with Enrich I was back in my usual place with the children. Alice and Celina were talking about some stuff while Ren was busy by himself tinkering away with some contraption. As for myself, I was sitting in the shade looking at them.

I’ve never had children of my own, I’ve never even thought about that due to my work but after coming to this world I sometimes think that this may be what it’s like. Age-wise it matches up as well.

“Morgant~ you have another visitor.”

Diana comes along once more with another person. She had a similar shade of silver hair as Miko did and a small fluffy tail. Her eyes were a deep blue color like you’d get lost just looking into them and her by her expression it was going to be a fairly serious meeting this time around.

“This is?”

“Her name is [Deborah], a person from the werewolf tribe. She said something about you being summoned to the capital. I’m unsure what that really means so I came to consult it with you.”

The person behind her, Deborah the werewolf comes up and gives me a bow.

“It is an honor to meet you Lord Morgant. By the wishes of the demon lord you have been summoned to capital.”

“Already, huh. I understand.”

“What’s going on Morgant? Are you going to leave?”

Hearing Deborah’s loud announcement, Alice comes up to me with an uneasy expression on her face. Ever since arriving at this place Alice has been rather attached to me so it’s not like I don’t understand her uneasiness about seeing me leave.

“It will only be for a little while. I’ll be sure to come back.”

I tell her.

“No! No! No! I don’t want Morgant to leave!”

She rushes and grabs a hold of me in tears.

“Alice…”

“No!”

It took a while but I managed to calm her down after gently rubbing her head for a good 10 minutes, with Celina looking at the scene in envy.

“Alice… here.”

I open Alice’s hands and give her a small hair pin with a cute skull figure on it.

“… ?”

She tilts her head wondering what this was.

“That’s something extremely important for me, I want you to keep it safe for me okay? It’s a promise, I’ll definitely come back to take it back. So do that for me, okay?”

“… Okay…”

She meekly agrees.

“Thank you for understanding.”

Afterwards I had a small talk with Diana as well, after much deliberation she consented to my brief absence, though Miko was a little less convinced, perhaps because she too has some bad blood with the werewolves, due to her special condition. Though in the end she too gives me consent to leave.

“Then we shall depart immediately.”

Deborah says but I interject.

“Ah before we go I want to take someone else along with me.”

Deborah seemed confused but soon understood what I mean when she saw the large bright sign that read ‘Lilith’s Flower Emporium’. She lets out a sigh as she reads it and mutters under her breath.

“Lilith… huh.”

END REPORT

[Status Menu]

Morgant Fallon. Level 67

NECROMANCER

DEMON GENERAL

GOD OF DREAD

Strength: 253 (240 + 13)

Dexterity: 12 (5 + 7)

Magic: 29 (5 + 24)

Insight: 124 (100 + 24)

Agility: 11 (5 + 6)

[Status Points: 0]

[Skill List]

(PASSIVE) [Life Force Sensory]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(PASSIVE) [Toxin Resistance]: Level 42

(PASSIVE) [Undead's Tenacity]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(PASSIVE) [Mental Fortress]: Level 1

(AUGMENT) [Enchanting Voice]: Level 37

(AUGMENT) [Transformation - Aspect of the Black Pharaoh]: Level 1

(ACTIVE) [Avatar of Nyarlathotep]: Level 1

(ACTIVE) [Wither]: Level 37

(ACTIVE) [Decay]: Level 42

(ACTIVE) [Summon - Skeleton Knight]: Level 47

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Lance]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Shield]: Level 50 (MASTSERED)

(ACTIVE) [Summon - Terror of the Depths]: Level 1/Required Level: 100

(ACTIVE) [Soul Bind Summoning]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(SOUL BIND) [Summon - Ghost King]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(SOUL BIND) [Summon - Succubus Princess]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(SOUL BIND) [Summon - Spider Queen]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

(SUB SKILL) [Anti-Life Gambit]: Level 40

(SUB SKILL) [Intimidating Roar]: Level 40

(SUB SKILL) [Shield Charge): Level 40

(SUB SKILL) [Fortification): Level 40

(TEMPORARY) [Evil Eye]: Level 50 (MASTERED)

[Equipment]

[Shard of Tyrving]

+ 4 [All Stats]

[Sebastian's Pocket Watch]

+ 3 [Strength]

+ 3 [Dexterity]

+ 3 [Insight]

[Father's Sword Hilt]

+ 6 [Strength]

+ 4 [Insight]

+ 2 [Agility]

[Necronomicon]

+[20 Magic]

+[13 Insight]

----------------------------------------

Sorry for the late update, was a tad busy. >_<;;

FORGIVE ME PLEASE!