After opening up the forest on the human side of things, Aki thought it shouldn't take too long to establish contact.
He was wrong.
With hours going by and no proper response in sight despite the ruckus he'd been causing for a couple of days now, he was starting to get a bad impression of how this was going to go. Sure, there wasn't even a village here like on the other side, but he had been obnoxiously indiscreet the whole time, and the mana signature of the surroundings was only slightly less violent than the one of where he fought his first dragon.
Surely some beardy mage type in a tower of sorts would be going crazy over the long distance readings of such catastrophic happenings at their nation's border.
Yet he had time to set up a lounging chair, a record crystal playing classical music from his memories and even read an entire stand-alone bodice ripper Asa had told him was popular.
And he could see why too, the veritable tome filled with well worked clichés and elaborate plots besides vivid descriptions that set even his deviant heart beating fast at the warmth and love.
Good thing he was rich and carrying a copy of all the author's publicly available works. Just as he was starting to read the second chapter of a light hearted BL though, the first scout came around to his shaded retreat at the dirt road's entrance.
"Oh, someone finally came. You guys are not very good at fast response, ar, Dude, don't leave, at least tell me why no one else has come to check on me!" He shouted at the rogue running away the moment he started talking to him.
Honestly the scene was a bit pitiful. He could, of course, go pursue this person, yet if he did then he'd have to leave his little creature comforts behind for what was obviously a trap. Also leaving the road open for any idiot to use, but he was less worried about that as his speed was rather ridiculous for long distance travel at this point.
So long as he did not overshoot the angles and had to force a reentry into the atmosphere that is, but that had only happened once on a testing run, and he had reacted fast enough that he didn't have to figure out whether he could survive the classical meteor fall of burning all the way to the ground.
No, rather, he was trying to avoid any diplomatic incidents due to his current activities being a rather forceful way to bring forth the humans into peace talks. Sans not giving the human emperor much time to consider his offer and never reaching out a second time for his opinion.
The man was known to dislike the war, but he also had to have more PTSD on his little finger than Aki had picked up till now, so it was anyone's guess how he would answer to everything, but as long as ANYONE was willing to come and have these peace talks, he'd be open to them and they could all pretend it was the original plan while he gave the old man face by granting him more benefits later on, something he had always intended to do so as to guarantee the citizenry's well being.
Despite him being the best answer to who would lead the humans after they lost though, it would be perfectly fine if he later manipulated someone more agreeable into murdering the emperor and taking the reins in a real life epic that painted them as the righteousness hero fighting for the lives of their people after the war was lost and some elites continued trying to throw the people's lives away in a dastardly notion that things could go back to what they were before.
Or some such. He would check in with the real spy mistress later to see what they would put up as 'the truth' if such a situation came to be, but the post-war was just as important as the fight in this case, and he could only take care of so much at a time.
Fortunately however, the fully armored and armed war party that next came to see him was weaving a banner of truce, so despite the commanding officer's displeasure by the end of it, nobody was killed after he weaved his tale to them and put up a little show.
Apparently this had only been the local count's knights, but indeed, in the morning of the next day, he and his new sofa were graced with the presence of a hundred strong company escorting luxurious carriages, most of it bearing what he knew to be the motif of the royal family.
"You know, I had expected to be waiting around for a bit and get a scout to talk to, then receiving the actual representative some days later, but I guess this works too." And apparently they wouldn't need to wait around on the emperor either, since this kind of party could have only been made this quickly by either receiving his permission or going over his prohibition.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
The speed of it however, despite his own feelings of boredom at waiting around in the wilderness for pretty much a full day, was great enough that this probably had the full support of the crown.
To be honest though, the settlement caravan was prepared in two days by the demon king, and it was a few times bigger than this.
…………………
Grama Anatólia, third princess of the empire, was absolutely terrified, and she had little doubt that the general accompanying her was in much the same predicament.
She'd noticed it since laying eyes on the mysterious dirt road, but they were walking into the territory of a very powerful beast. Worse however, was the fact that said 'beast' was happily guiding them in.
'Aki' was supposed to be a summoned spirit however, and although she'd heard about elementals and even some summoned beasts capable of creating their own domains, the only sapient beings capable of doing the same were still the gods and the ancestral beasts.
What this meant, she did not know, but it was a very effective way to demonstrate that he was indeed incredibly strong, the domain itself serving as a mark of his aura that could not be refuted or ignored.
Which is why she was not calling him out for disrespect and audacity as he sat in front of her in the carriage and talked non-stop.
"... So I hope that your highness and my daughter can learn to live with each other, perhaps even becoming friends, though I find it unlikely. Unless you find it in yourself to spar with her and match her abilities without overwhelming strength, that'd probably work to gain a base of respect from which to work with, and if your chefs can produce sweets and pastries for her it'd certainly make for a way to control where she is at lunch or any sort of soare you might think of."
The above average looking young man who didn't look much older than her suddenly stopped, not forming another sentence while directly looking at the carriage wall.
As she was about to ask something more broadly useful to know, he then stretched forward and opened the carriage window, knights looking at him and then at her form, coming closer to see what was happening.
"No need to come closer, this will just take a bit." He ordered, the domain around them echoing the weight of his words and causing some knights to flinch at the killing intent directed at what seemed to be nothing.
One moment he was extending a hand outwards to where there was a line with no knight, then the next a sword appeared, floating in the air, launching forward soon after as it cut a swath through the trees and greenery, an explosion of air and sound hitting everyone before a moment or two later a pitiful roar reached them.
"That should teach it, back to it boys and girls." He said to her troops, laughing as he closed the window behind him and immediately going back to his slight smile as he was talking to her. “Where were we? Your highness was going to ask something.”
“I…” She took a breath and shut her thoughts down. That attack did not matter right now. “I would like to ask why you decided to suddenly open these peace talks when previous efforts were ignored.” And he snickered at her question. Immediately.
“I’m sorry, you don’t know why all peace talks with the demon kin were ignored?” He said, suddenly much more serious upon seeing her indignation. Mana pressure rose inside the carriage, and a moment later she could no longer breathe. “Since you are a princess who I'm trying to be nice to, I'm going to pretend I believe that and answer, but don’t go asking stupid questions like these near anyone else, please. The only reason I'm not angry at the question is my sheer apathy towards your existence. Do not confuse it with permission to treat serious issues like some game. Am i clear?” His face was completely devoid of emotion, and the moment the pressure released her the tears and snot started running.
“Yesh…” She muttered between heavy breaths. Her mind was telling her to run, but her instincts told her that if she moved then she would die, and all of a sudden Ana found herself completely freezing up before this monster as fear took complete control of her despite all her training and experience, something primal screaming inside of her.
“Good. The reason why there were no peace talks is that they would be useless so long as the forces beholden to the gods still hunted the demon-kin. To you this might be an ideological or even a raiding war, but to those i protect it is TOTAL war, where their very existence is at stake in a fight that can not be won without overwhelming power. We have it now, and with it the same problem that the gods faced. When you try to kill a cornered animal, it will try to kill you no matter what, unless there’s an even bigger disparity in power that turns it’s struggles meaningless, and neither side is ready to take on such an exchange. The gods will only descend personally and fight with their lives on the line if they don’t have a base of worshipers at all, and the demons will not be summoned in droves unless demon-kin society has completely fallen. Do not banalise such despair again or i will make sure that your soul never reaches your precious owners, am i clear?”
Like a creaking wooden puppet, she nodded, and that was the last time anything was said inside the carriage until they arrived into the settlement, which she had little time to inspect before she mechanically started getting ready for her meeting.