Capítulo 239: A step forward [4]

[3rd person Pov]

Sitting on his throne, the king couldn't help but sigh as his two guests couldn't care less about proper conduct, standing haughtily in front of him instead of kneeling. At this point, however, George didn't care.

Things had gotten completely out of hand already, with the Daemons continually launching attacks all over his country, and no matter how hard they had tried, they still hadn't been able to pinpoint where they were hiding.

Or at least that was the case until now...

"Are you sure, your highness? Because we wouldn't want a city to disappear for no reason. Hahaha!"

Wearing his jacket with a fluffy, fur collar, it didn't seem like Mr. Naut would grieve for all too long if the city they suspected the Daemons to hide was a red herring. In fact, he probably wouldn't bat an eye if they weren't there. Because he had permission from the king himself to let loose.

"As senseless as always. Are you sure you want the Juggernauts to be a part of this alliance, my liege? Wouldn't it be better to just rely on us instead?"

With his body covered by his black robe, the head of the Vipers was as incognito as ever.

"What are you talking about, you damn snake? If it's a fight you want, I'm not one to back down, you know?"

Even if Mr. Naut replied to his 'colleague' with a smile, there was no doubt that his words had to be taken seriously. A fact that the weary king didn't particularly enjoy right now.

"Both of you, please stop. If any of you want to gain the rewards from this venture, I suggest you lay down your weapons and get along. Now, back to business. Yes, we have determined that the Daemons are currently hiding in the city of Bhurm. We are currently looking for options to evacuate the citizen while making sure they don't notice..."

"I'm going."

Not caring to listen to the words of his supposed king, Mr. Naut turned around, now wanting to waste more time than necessary. Knowing there was nothing he could do about it, the king just sighed and tried one last desperate measure.

"Haaa... Mr. Naut, please at least try and make sure the civilians don't get caught up in your fight. Or at least try to spare as many as possible."

Having no words to give the king, Mr. Naut just raised one of his strong-looking arms in the air and kept walking.

Being a bit more patient than his current counterpart, Mr. Viper had stayed behind, as he had yet another question that he needed to pose to his king.

"What about the Hurricanes?"

"There is still nothing reported about their whereabouts. They have most likely already fled the country, and thus there is nothing we can do about it. Just regard it as our victory."

The Hurricanes. The last hidden family that used the power of raging storms to decimate their enemies. To the king's knowledge, they were the family that made the least noise and could be said to be the most passive out of all of them.

Unlike the other hidden families, who had worked proactively in the shadows to further increase their authority, the Hurricanes didn't seem to care about that.

They were, however, the family that had decimated a whole noble lineage just because of an extremely trivial incident. An incident where the heir of the noble house had 'accidentally' made advancements toward one of the daughters of the head of the Hurricanes.

In less than a week, the noble house of Lainos had disappeared, and although the king knew who was behind it, there was nothing he could do about it. In the end, he could only cover up the news in the media and try his best to sweep it under the carpet.

So, what he didn't understand was why a family as powerful as that would just turn tail and run away. Shouldn't they at least have tried to put up a fight?

At the same time, the king was immensely grateful for these circumstances. Just fighting against the Daemons had led to a multitude of sacrifices, even to the point where the large guilds had not gone unscathed. Even Obelisk had lost several of their [C]- and [B]-rank hunters in their struggle against their enemy.

To be fair, it was also Obelisk who had worked the hardest against the threats of what they believed to be demons, while the Denver family and the Ritter guild had been using their people very sparingly.

It was quite disgusting to see, how two of the biggest guilds were still conscious enough of their rivalry to use this as an opportunity to weaken Obelisk, Obelisk which held its stance of always trying to protect the weak.

If there was one person in this world that the king respected the most, it would have to be Leonardo Stone, the guild master of Obelisk. Because no matter what, his beliefs seemingly couldn't be shaken.

Even while carrying similar power as an individual to the heads of the hidden houses, he never let it to his head, always keeping himself grounded. Most likely, it was a matter of origin.

Unlike the large guilds that had their origins in noble houses, Leonardo carried with him his history of being a nobody, of clawing his way up to the position he now held. And unlike the hidden houses, he wasn't raised with the purpose of fulfilling the role of an heir.

Yet, he was also never naive. Mr. Stone was well aware of what the rules of this world were, and he made sure to never step out of line. Though he might have done some things that could be said to be less than righteous, he was also a man that could stand by his sins with pride.

Because he knew that some things were necessary for the greater good. A belief that the king himself knew all too well.

However, the king wasn't sure if he could stand tall with the sins on his back for much longer. After these last two years, the resolve of a ruler had started to weaken.

No longer was he sure about what was necessary, and what was merely actions that brought harm to his own nation.

So, unable to control himself, the king couldn't help but think a very dangerous thought.

'Maybe someone like that should have been king instead of me...'

==========

Standing in her private room at the castle, it was finally time for Ezral to prepare for the second stage of their plan. With Kurat now completely at her feet, and the process of arming up on the way, her part of the plan had been completed.

*ZOOM!*

Out of nowhere, a black and red portal opened up in front of her. Out of it, a tall man clad in a tuxedo walked out, his blood-red hair appearing to absorb every single strand of light in the room.

"Welcome, Beleth."

Taking a look around the room, it didn't take long until the nose of the demon reacted harshly.

"Tch! Can't you get rid of this smell? The smell of inferiority is vile."

Putting her hand on her waist, Ezral wasn't exactly happy to have gotten this kind of response after welcoming another one of the counts.

"There is still some time until I will be able to shed this skin, so just bear with it. It was, after all, the orders of our lord to polymorph myself into a human."

Yes, the succubus herself wasn't actually in the vessel of a demon right now. To make sure there was no way she would get found out, her lord had forcibly changed her into a form that was more or less human, though her demonic attributes still existed within her.

"Bah, whatever. So, is this it? The country where our invasion will begin from? What was it called again... Kuba?"

"Kurat. The name of this nation is Kurat, and the capital is called Kuul. You should probably try your best to remember these things."

Waving his hand, the proud demon count didn't seem to care all too much about such trivial things.

"Sure. So, how far has the conversion gone?"

Taking up a notebook from the small table beside them, Ezral made sure to report the correct numbers about Kurat.

"We have currently converted almost 10% of the population, whereas another 10% has been culled. Following this, we have gained about 60% of the citizens as followers, as they are loyal to the converted ones."

"60%?"

"Yes. Because of how split up this country is, the logistics behind recruiting many of the smaller villages have been..."

"I don't care. So, 60%... What are the actual numbers, and how many can be used in warfare?"

Beleth was the demon count of warfare, so needless to say, he didn't care about much else. This was his purpose for coming here, to make sure they had troops prepared for the war they were about to launch.

Looking out of the window, gazing at the snow-covered lands of Kurat, while he listened to the current status from Ezral, he couldn't help but smile. Revealing his fangs at the thought of finally getting to do what he loved the most.

To go to war.

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