The throne room's doors were hurriedly opened by the guards.
Bang!
Their hasty actions caused the doors to slam into the throne room walls as the handles slipped out of their sweaty hands.
Floppy feather ran into the room as soon as the doors opened. He desperately wanted to get away from the sharp gazes piercing his back.
“Lord King Beegus DeKus the 1st, Envoys from afar have come to see you!” shouted Floppy Feather as he knelt on the stone floor.
At the far end of the throne room, a plain-looking middle-aged man who had been playing around just seconds before looked up with a frown towards the large group of people rudely entering the throne room.
Akira watched as a bald woman appeared from behind the throne and whispered a few things into the man's ear which further deepened the frown on his face.
Akira paid close attention to this woman bringing up her name and level above her head.
[Name:???, Guild: ???, Lvl: 130].
This confused Akira, for some reason he could only see her level. No matter how long he stared at her no name appeared. But with such a high level there was no doubt that she was a demigod and not a human.
The bald woman felt someone staring at her and locked eyes with Akira. A small smirk appeared on her face before she disappeared behind the throne once again.
King Beegus DeKus sat up straight while shooing away the few females that sat with him on his throne.
With uncontrolled giggles, they also escaped from view by running behind the throne.
“...and who do I have the 'pleasure' of speaking with?” asked Beegus DeKus, while glaring at Floppy feather.
Akira stepped forward and said in a booming voice, “I am Akira, Duke of Kodria.”
Fluffball proudly moved forward and said, “YAP!”
Grub stepped up next to Akira and said, “Grubb, a special envoy from Jerora.”
The other envoys all stepped forward and introduced themselves one by one.
Hearing the names of the people, and where they were all from, was causing King Beegus DeKus to feel uncomfortable. Many of these people were not small fry that he could push around easily.
“How can I help you all?”
“We all personally came here to ask you about some troubling rumors as well as accusations that you are causing problems with your neighbors,” said Akira.
“Rumors are just that, Rumors. They should not be listened to. As for what I do with my territory, there is nothing to talk about with you since it does not concern you.”
Several of the smaller town envoys let out a few quiet curses as their towns were definitely being threatened as well as Beegus Dekus claiming part of their land as his own territory for his new dukedom.
“We do not want to meddle with you ruling your own territory. But the rumors and accusations are troubling for all of us and seem to have some truth to them. That is why we have come here to ask you directly what is happening,” said Akira, speaking up after no one else said anything.
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“What blasted rumors!?” asked King Beegus.
“You are talking with several demigod guilds in the north. Some think you may have already joined one of the guilds,” said Grub.
“What? That's preposterous!” said King Beegus, as he glanced over his shoulder towards the hidden door behind his throne. “I have only accepted their gifts. I have not accepted any new masters. I like to keep my options open and you have no say in what I can and can not do!”
“Duke Beegus, you don't seem like an idiot, so why are you playing with fire? If you are looking for allies all you have to do is ask one of us and we will help you as much as we can,” said Akira.
“I thank you for your offer, but as I said before, I like to keep my options open on who to call allies,” said King Beegus.
An angry Zundar stepped forward and pointed one of his large fingers at Beegus DeKus, “Don't fool yourself. The only reason that the demigods are sending you gifts and offering minor help to you, is because they think of you as an easy-to-use pawn. Right now you are useful to them but what happens when they clear out all the roadblocks? You will be of no use to them. Even if you manage to survive that long, you will still have to survive the several guilds who will no doubt send small armies to knock on your front gates as soon as you pick a side.”
“I am not someone's pawn! I make my own decisions!” roared Beegus DeKus.
Akira placed a hand on Zundar's shoulder to calm him down and said, “You may not know about the history of the past three great demigod wars on the main continent, so allow me to enlighten you about the personality of the Demigods. As a result of the three great wars, the dozen or so Human and Demon race kingdoms were condensed into only 4 human kingdoms. The four kingdoms only managed to survive by taking in the many demigods who had already destroyed several other countries. These demigods picked who would be the winning country in each of the major conflicts.”
“That only makes it more appealing to accept their offer. If I am to survive, I must have the strongest allies. Also, I am a human, not someone from one of your demon races. Everyone knows that the demigods do not like the demon races which is why you all have migrated here!”
“You would be a fool to think that the demigods care who they kill. In the last great war I witnessed the demigods plotting to kill the King of Beorin, it ended with my foster brother being killed to protect the king. The king, my brother, and thousands of regular humans died from the attacks of the demigods. None of them were connected to any demon race. So what is to stop the demigods from doing this again? What happens when they are done with the puppets and want to become the kings themselves? You should ally with us. We will not stab you in the back,” said Akira.
King Beegus actually listened to this intently and was quiet for some time as he thought about what both Zundar and Akira had said.
“Something like that will never happen,” said a slippery smooth voice coming from behind the throne.
The bald woman from before once again appeared at the side of the throne.
“We are not looking to kill off our warriors during a war,” said the bald female demigod.
“See! You heard her. They are nice people and would never do that,” said King Beegus with all his doubts now washed away.
The gathered envoys' deepest fears about the situation and the woman were confirmed with this short interaction.
“Do not be swayed by her words! If you believe the snake standing beside you you are a fool!” said Grub angrily.
“For the last time, I am no fool! You are a crazy conspiracy theorist making up false accusations!” shouted Beegus Dekus as he shot up to his feet in anger.
“If you have nothing else to say then you can get out of my territory now!” said King Beegus pointing towards the open doors.
“Think hard about your decision. Once the milk is spilled there will be no way to put it back,” said Akira before turning around and leading the group of envoys out of the throne room.
King Beegus watched their backs until they disappeared from his sight.
“Are you sure this was the best choice?” asked Beegus DeKus.
“If you want to survive the coming storms and become a powerhouse of Foradverold, then you must crack a few eggs to make an omelet,” said Slytha.
“...”
“Are you going to just let them escape like that? Now is not the time to hesitate! If you agree to the terms we can help you secure your position and lead your warriors to take care of the other troublesome people. We will also offer you equipment to arm your soldiers to help protect and expand your territory.”
“... If it means that I can survive. Then... I agree.”
With the last two words spoken, a flash appeared in Slytha's hand as a binding contract glowed brightly.
Slytha placed it into a secret pocket and then with a sly smirk said “You will not be disappointed. We will start making preparations to take care of everything.”
King Begus Dekus had no idea what was planned for the future. Before he could ask any more questions.
Poof!
A black cloud of smoke covered Slytha's body and when the smoke was gone, so was she.