Chapter 21

After going around from empire to empire, I saw the new things humanity has been doing. I saw how humanity progress individually and I am in awe with them. Some empire or kingdoms maintained their friendly relations but there are also some that choose to develop alone. I guess the situation where they don’t need to fight a demon lord is new to them and everyone is fumbling about in all direction. It is amusing to see some people rushing towards their goals but don’t know that they are quietly offending someone on the way. I don’t know if they know but feel that it does not matter since the other party is weaker than them. Anyway, they are busy so I am not looking forward in meddling in their matters.

For now, I separated with the wandering cat. She said she wants to explore more but I can’t possibly go on with her endless wandering issues. She’s a headache on her own so I will excuse myself after I get the fun I want. For now, I need to properly watch them because who knows when they will do something crazy.

Though I say that, I myself don’t know what to do at this point. The human race is such a complicated race, one side does well while other side messes up. So you can imagine the dilemma I am having. So far though, since they are not stabbing each other I think I can continue my easy days. I hope it stays that way for longer. I am just starting to enjoy my life and I am not looking forward to complications.

“I wonder how my garden looks like now.”

I left the last of the twelve empires and went to Dream Island once again. I really miss my pitcher plants.

Krevinada Kingdom, Throne room

The king and his aides are in discussion about the various requests they are getting from the neighboring kingdoms and even the main empires. Some of them are politely asking to shed some light about their intent with their current actions while others are blatantly asking for the technology Lisa Evergreen made.

At first, the king was skeptical about the matters concerning Lisa Evergreen. He does not like the feeling of being in the dark. Lisa Evergreen was an enigma for him and the only thing he knows is that she came from a small town of Evergreen at Khoten Empire. The information is so much but all of it contrasts with how Lisa Evergreen carries herself. It was like someone is using the identity of Lisa Evergreen with how vastly different this two person are. The one stated in the report spoke of a naive girl who specializes in support and healing magic while the one in the presence of the king is a mysterious woman who seems to know everything all around her. There is no such thing as a trace of naivety from the woman he met previously. He can’t even come up with a proper explanation why these two identities do exist in one name.

For the king, Lisa is a great boon for his kingdom. His kingdom is not rich anyhow but they are all skilled in hunting. Almost everyone in the kingdom lives by hunting aside from the merchants and other minor jobs. The rich forest around Krevinada kingdom has always supported the empire economically. The other things that they need were usually purchased from the alliance but now that the alliance is no more, the trade has been broken down.

Merchants of alliance started to fight for control over the market and somehow anger some of their fellow merchant. The market of the alliance has been broken into five major groups and they don’t share anymore trades with the other group. The ambition to monopolize the market does not sit well with some empire and so they started to suppress this group until the five groups became so feeble that their goods can’t be sold with great profit unlike the past. The trade has been broken up and so the Krevinada needs an ally country to trade with. They can’t possibly maintain the kingdom without other goods aside from the products of the forest. They need iron; they need more grain and some spices. They even need some other skilled workers for the kingdom. All of these were given by the alliance in the past. Sadly, there is no more alliance aside from a fake name.

Because of that, they are now in debate into which country they need to ally themselves. The king himself was not having a good time since most of these countries ask for the technology in exchange for their cooperation.

The king, being the leader of the nation now needs to think of the well-being of his kingdom. He can’t possibly hand out the only thing that keeps the kingdom safe from the predators which used to be their brother in arms during the demon lord wars. The king needs someone to help them procure these goods but he can’t hand out the technology concerning about guns. In the first place, the production of these weapons is strictly managed by Lisa Evergreen. Her man power is not much but the selected people that works for the production of guns were all slaves which can’t even speak of the secret under the slave collar. Because of this, the secret of production can be easily controlled. Lisa can control these hundred thousand slaves easily unlike the king controlling an entire kingdom.

“My King, the Khoten Empire sent a proposal as well.” The aide respectfully handed a piece of paper towards the king.

In the past, the king can only look up to these leaders of the main empires of the north. Now though, they are all groveling in his feet asking something which they all do not have. If the king said that he was not feeling proud then he would be lying to himself. The feeling of a celebrity asking you for something on their own while also offering some benefits is really refreshing for the king.

The king reads the letter with delight in his face. He was savoring the feeling of the moment but his mind still in focus on what the other party is saying. In the end, the empire does not want the weapon or the technology as they said but they want their citizen back as she was wanted personnel in the Khoten Empire. The king can only laugh his brains out on how ridiculous the other party is. The other official does not dare to laugh with the king and they can only wait until the king calms down and tell them what the letter is about.

After a fit of laughter from the king, the throne room finally became quiet again aside from the time to time giggling of the king. The officials can only shake their head at their king but remained respectful and waited for the king to fully calm down.

“They are not asking for the technology but want the person behind the technology saying that she was wanted in their empire.”

The voice of the king this time does not seem playful but with a tinge of coldness included. He had not thought that the leaders of the alliance which he looks up to can be these kind of people. How can a simple woman from a faraway small town be capable of doing horrendous things which can make her a wanted criminal of the entire empire? The claim is simply ridiculous and is only forcing them to hand over the mind behind the technology.

“Do not send anything to the Khoten Empire. Let them scratch their heads and let them worry what is our stance.”

His kingdom maybe small but all of them fought bravely during the war. They might not be clashing head on with the demon lord army but they are facing dangerous magic beast so that that their army can last the war. They might not be operating magic staves and magic swords but they firmly held their knives and bows to face against monsters that appeared during the hunt. They also contributed towards the success of the human race but now his country is being bullied by this larger empire. The feeling is quite bitter and salty.

“Yes my king!” The officials readily consented because they themselves know the feeling of the king for now.

There are many more kingdoms and some empire which sent their request for the information about this weapon under the guise of the human alliance and the future of humanity but in the eyes of the king all of them just want a piece of his treasure without paying something. The alliance does not exist anymore in his eyes since there are no more demons he needs to fight. There are no more invaders that he needs defending and there will be no more in the future. The king just wanted his kingdom to become strong so no one will have any idea about bullying his Krevinada kingdom. The demon lord was defeated. Everything is over in his eyes.

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In the end, he rejected almost the entire proposal. He accepted the alliance offered by some small kingdom near the Krevinada kingdom. He only accepted the small kingdoms which do not dare to ask for too much but the protection the Krevinada kingdom can offer in exchange for some goods that the kingdom needs.

The matter soon passed towards the entire northern lands and the alliance is in shock. In history, which kingdom dared to reject the call of help from the main empire for the sake of humanity? Even though all of them know that the call was fake since there is no more demon lord but for a small kingdom to reject all the empires blatantly made the entire human race be shocked.

The information spread like wildfire and even small settlements came to know these matters. The human lands fell into some kind of tension and all eyes are focusing into a small kingdom named Krevinada. They are looking on what is the response of the empires. The matter that passed seemed like a solid slap in the face of these empires. People are curious how these empires will deal with this small kingdom.

As expected, the empires did not take this matter lightly. The matter deeply concerns their authority and prestige and so they started to throw mud into this small kingdom by saying how ungrateful this Krevinada kingdom is. They started to make other kingdoms and empire believe that the Krevinada kingdom does not show sincerity towards the entire human race by keeping something which can possibly save the race during in times of need.

The matter escalated and the empires and the Krevinada kingdom started to throw more mud into each other’s reputation. Time passed and the matter soon reached a boiling point where a medium kingdom under the Khoten Empire made a move and marched towards the Krevinada Kingdom. The result of it as expected was a one-sided massacre.

In the long years, human race never had this kind of event where a full army of a kingdom fell in such fashion. Even though in the last two months there have been some skirmishes but there is no such thing as blatant state of war. The emergence of this massacre soon spread towards the other parts of the north and people were once again shocked. A fellow human race kingdom has massacred an army of another human race kingdom!

After the war with the demon lord, there are some frictions between countries but no one dared to fully wage war towards another in fear of bringing unnecessary reputation under their name. With the emergence of the first war between human races, the northern land started to fall into chaos. The Khoten Empire was so angry that their emperor Klein sent another force towards Krevinada Empire which started another fight.

The act of another war ignited the desire hidden in the heart of the human kings as they too started to use their hidden technology and started to wage wars towards their respective opponents. Grudges during the demon lord war are now resurfacing and grievances back then are being excavated. The disagreement between countries back then which the alliance forcefully suppressed can no longer be chained and the northern land fell into the state of war.

All of these things which the human race has done had been seen by other races. The wood dwellers of the west saw how humanity started a war between their own people. The southern lands of the halflings saw the war and commended humanity for being as savage as them. The Eastern no man’s land inhabitants saw it too and made sure to stay away from human race. More importantly, all of these things were reflected in the eyes of Demon Lord Drake.

“Foolish… As expected of them. Lisa Evergreen, you have failed the challenge.” Drake’s voice echoed along the burning town then he leaped into the air and disappeared.

Khoten Empire

Lisa Evergreen was aware of what is happening inside the human race. She was regretting in bringing the weapon into this world. She was expecting the other empire to acknowledge that they have the qualification to say some things. She did not expect for the human empires to just blatantly ask for this technology under the pretense of humanity’s future.

Lisa can’t possibly just hand over this technology since she may as well kill herself then. Once this monster’s technology spread, the role of the magicians will be shaken and the magicians themselves will not let this matter happen. She knows that they will perform a massive purge to delete this technology and maintain the status quo of power. They are powerful but if they face multiple people with guns then they are done for. The bullets travel faster than they can see and the scariest part is that anyone can wield this weapon. Even servants who do not know anything can point and pull the trigger. When that happens, then rivers of blood will flow in the human lands which may even spread towards the other parts of Mirth.

Lisa knows the risk but she was confident and successful in containing the technology to herself. She carefully threads her steps with the advice of Adarna on how to contain the power but they have not expected how other fellow human race thirsted for more power. In this aspect, even Adarna failed. He knows things and facts but he has not expected that technology has that much effect on the mindset of people. He saw the worlds where guns spread and people seem to have some laws that can control this weapon somehow. He was confident that if they carefully keep the technology then use this as a leverage to make their words have some power later then their plans can succeed.

Lisa and Adarna failed to see that fear silently crept into the other ruler’s heart because of this weapon. They are afraid of the time that the Krevinada grow too much to the point that this kingdom can step over them in the future. They are on their own mighty kingdoms and empires. How can they stomach of the future where a small kingdom lords over them?

Several Kingdoms and Empires are besieging the small Krevinada Kingdom. The alliance between the small countries which the king accepted has been proven failure as they failed to receive reinforcements from them unless they share the information about the weapon. The Krevinada Kingdom became isolated in the entire northern lands. The kingdom started to weaken due to the constant harassment of the forces besieging them. The people became afraid and demanded to just surrender and hand over the technology instead of a war.

Lisa is seeing this all in her eyes. The flags of war have risen once again and the era of peace is over. This war will not be the same as they are not fighting devils but fellow humans instead. Once the technology of making guns is passed and spread then there will be more bloody wars ahead. Lisa and Adarna decided to halt the production of these guns and started to destroy the records about it. With these, they are hoping that this can delay the spread of the weapon.

Many guns were looted during this war and samples were taken by many other empires and kingdoms. They know that they are done for and people are going to use this weapon and this time they are not able to control the growth of this weapon. The both of them know that they became criminals for inciting the second Great War.

Lisa can only weep bitterly when the king proclaimed her as a wanted criminal inside Krevinada kingdom. The state of the kingdom fell so low that the king can’t even give face to the both of them. He can’t possibly shelter her anymore with the threat of multiple kingdoms and empire. Even if they are holding on for now, it is only a matter of time before Krevinada fall into the ashes. The king knows this and he is planning on capturing Lisa to offer her towards the forces outside their walls so that he can keep them away. Sadly, Lisa’s network is too great and she left the kingdom when the matter was decided by the king and his officials.

Once again, Lisa and Adarna are on the run. The veil of the night is the only protector they could ever have for now. Tears are falling nonstop as Lisa run with all her might. Even for a mighty practitioner of magic such as herself, the feeling of being shunned two times is not something she can carry. She was totally feeling defeated and she knows it herself.

The both of them were running when angry voices echoed throughout the forest. They hasten their pace as they push forward as fast as the two of them can. They ran but soon found themselves surrounded by cavalries from a different kingdom while pointing their spears and magic staves towards them.

“Who are you?” The leader of the group shouted as he pointed his swords towards Lisa.

Then suddenly the moonlight faded and something fell between Lisa and the leader of the cavalry. A man with a fiery red hair is now standing between Lisa and the angry knight leader. His eyes are burning straight towards the eyes of Lisa which were clouded with despair and defeat.

“Lisa Evergreen, your human race has failed.” Just as he finished his speech, screams of agony echoed the forest as cavalries were torn into pieces by Lost Lambs.

“Now it is my time to fulfill my end.” Then the man with red hair disappeared leaving the shocked Lisa and the defeated Adarna alone in the forest.

The second war between human race and demon lord will finally begin once again.