章 54: Changes

Rewinding the time, Emily was currently walking down a street littered with stalls selling nothing but ingredients. That's was how Mercator was divided, there was a section for everything, a section for ingredients, a section for weapons and armour, a section for gambling and some other weird places. A curious expression appeared in her innocent eyes as her thoughts drifted towards the section where men liked to go a lot, a place where the colour red was lit up rather frequently. Seeing the men go in there with such happy smiles and leave with even happier ones, she thought back to her workaholic master and gave herself an imaginative nod,

'Umm, I need to take his highness there,'

Amadeus didn't know what she was thinking about but if he knew, he would certainly raise an eyebrow to this girl's innocence. All these thoughts were then thrown away as she started buying the groceries needed. There were two reasons why she was in charge of this, she was surprisingly a great cook, the best on Amadeus had and she was able to recognise the best ingredients. Her ruby red eyes bought with it a hint of allure as they darted around looking for only the best ingredients.

Her nose twitched as she sniffed the ingredients and judged them. With a satisfied smile, here came the second reason why she was in charge of this,

"That would be 3 silver coins."

The currency in Orbis was divided into three coins. Starting from the most valuable, it was platinum, gold, silver and bronze. A hundred bronze was equivalent to one silver while a hundred silver was equivalent to one gold and so on. Seeing the greed hidden within the man's eyes, Emily gave out a smile. Her smile was captivating but with also a hint of cunning.

"I will give you 5 bronze coins."

Yes, the second reason was her stupid yet 100% successful bartering strategy. Leaving the frustrated salesman with a happy smile, she started to walk back to there residence. Mercator was a rather large city, only smaller than the capital. The streets were clean, and the walls were high. But there was this darkness that secretly lurked in each hidden corner of the city and it creeped her out. Ignoring this, she carried on walking and took in the grandeur of this place. The buildings were made out of stones and each house was place was at least a few stories. As this wasn't the rich area, there were many common people walking around, with smiles.

Slowly the buildings became shorter and shorter until they turned into mansions. The patrols increased and the people walking the on the streets decreased. She walked for a few more minutes and arrived at a rather grand mansion that had Blades guarding the premises. This was where they were currently staying, and the security was by no means lax. As they knew her identity, the guards let her in but only after a careful inspection.

Emily walked inside and into the kitchen to start preparing the food. She liked doing it herself and Amadeus liked her cooking. She like to go out and get her own ingredients rather than get the ones that were already prepared, she had the most faith in her decisions. Just as she was about to begin cooking, a signal from Eriko halted her work. It was a faint pulse, unsuspicious for others but for her, it was telling her to go to her master's side.

Putting everything to the side, she made her way towards Amadeus

The building returned to being taller and stalls appeared more frequently to the side. The sound of stall owners advertising their products filled the air. Before she knew it, she saw Amadeus and started making her way there. Ignoring everything happening around her, she made her way to Amadeus. This brought to where Amadeus saw her now. She wasn't in the middle of a quarrel, rather she just happened to walk through it.

Amadeus didn't know this and the first thing that appeared in his mind was that she was the reason. However, once he focused on the incredulous expressions on the soldiers flanking her, he could tell that they were as surprised as he was when they saw her. Looking at the doll like girl, gazing back at him while not stopping her steps, he immediately understood that she was unaware of her surroundings. Sighing to himself, he watched her make her way next to him and bow, before walking behind him. Amadeus just inwardly shook his head and looked ahead, only to see the two group look at them with a serious gaze.

A few more cloaked individuals arrived and flanked Amadeus with their backs to him. They were clearly Blades that were hiding, and the opponents seeing them had a hint of vigilance appear in their eyes. They weren't able to ascertain his identity, but it seemed that it wasn't so simple. Looking at him then throwing a hateful look towards the opposition, the parties retreated while the demonic captain left a lingering gaze on Emily.

Amadeus looked back at Emily who was just standing there with her usual apathetic gaze. He could tell that the girl didn't know what she had done or what she had walked through. Sighing lightly, he put it to the back of his head and started enjoying the sights. It was a whole new experience for him, it was the first time he was experiencing the magical world. Up until now, most of his time was spent either in the palace or training and even his uncommon adventures outside were restricted from inside a carriage. It was only the select few of times that he was able to walk among the masses like any other and look at what was to offer.

He looked at the stall that were selling everything from armour to potions while there also being a stall selling vegetables to street food. Looking at a certain one, he could see a rather familiar stall. It was selling crepes. He had never had them before, but he had seen a lot of people eating them in his past life.

Walking towards it, Emily bought him one and they sat down on a nearby bench, as Amadeus bought it to his mouth. Well after a series of checks but ok. It wasn't true that they didn't attract any attention as the group of cloaked individuals surrounding another cloaked individual and a beautiful maid did bring with it a hint of mysteriousness.

So curious looks were sent towards Amadeus as he was enraptured by the delicacy in front of him. Taking his first bite, a hint of sweetness passed through his tongue and a happy smile immediately appeared on his face. Before he knew it, the crepe had disappeared from his hand. Relishing on the aftertaste, Amadeus got up as there were more serious matters to attend to.

The next day, Amadeus arrived at the hub of geniuses, a place known to give birth to many. Funded by all the nations, it represented the peace between them, but also a place to keep an eye on their enemies. Amadeus would've come here, but he was thrown into such a position where he had no time for such things. However, once Arius came of age, he would attend this institution.

The whole campus reminded Amadeus the serenity of nature, hence the name being Nature Academy. Jade like walls filled the place and it didn't seem to obstruct anything as vines grew on walls. It wasn't clustered with trees but rather clear with bushes and trees at edges. The main campus was one rather large three storey building with two additional ones on opposite ends, these were the dorms. A large courtyard was at the front and one main pathway from the gates to the entrance. The place that should've been packed with students was now empty and only Amadeus' carriage was visible. Arriving near the entrance, Amadeus was able to see another seven carriages already parked.

"It seems I'm the last one to arrive"

He didn't expect anyone's reply as Emily and the rest faintly smiled. Eriko wasn't present as she was still doing the task Amadeus had given her. It was easy to tell which carriage belonged to who. There was one that was looked dull and made of steel, but gave Amadeus the impression of sturdiness, this clearly belonged to the dwarves. Another seemed to have grown from a tree as it was made of wood and rather large leaves, giving it a fragile look, but the slight glow said otherwise, clearly the elves. There was another black one with a hint of wine red, it was clear to see that it came from the Daemon kingdom. Another was a pure white one, it was easy to tell that it was from the church while one was surrounded with an astonishing amount of magic

Another was a rather humble one, not too extravagant but just enough for luxuries to tell people that it belonged to a royal family. Lastly was the Bestia kingdom. This one was rather special as it was floating not with pure magic, now with spells but something else, another sort of mystic energy.

A man was already waiting for him and he was led inside the academy. Walking through the halls, their foots hitting the marble floor was the only sound resonating in the hallway. Reaching a conference room, the man stopped and only Amadeus and Irene entered. It wasn't that they were stopped but it was common courtesy to bring only one guard.

The first thing Amadeus saw was a group of figures surrounding a circular table with each sitting on a seat. Their respective national flags were behind the and it seemed that tension was already high when Amadeus entered. His naturally become the focus of attention as he calmly walked to his seat and sat down. Putting his elbow on the arm rest he leaned on it and just stayed quiet. Each head of nation entered his eyes. Looking through his veil, he saw an old man with slit eyes wearing a white cap bearing a cross within a circle while his clothes also bore a similar one. This was the pope, Pope Stephen. Varrulir was already next to Amadeus while on his other side was a handsome man with long ears. He was clearly middle aged, with his blonde hair slicked backwards and a circlet resting on his forehead. His sharp green eyes were looking at the pope who just gave a jolly laugh.

Amadeus' eyes went onto the elephant in the room as a rather large man sat on the seat. His demonic presence said it all as a streak of reddish orange glowing veins could be seen pulsing around his body. A devilish smile plastered his face as he looked at everyone in the room. He was unsurprisingly sitting directly opposite to the pope. Next to the pope was another old man with a large wizard's hat and a rather long beard. Looing at the Gandalf wannabe, Amadeus averted his eyes and went on the one that looked most like a king. Looking exactly like the king from a deck of cards.

Lastly was the odd one out, with a pair of fox ears, it was the only female head of nation. She wore the clothes of a mikoto while a fan covered her mouth, but her eyes had a playful look in her eyes.

"Then…"

An aged voice caught the attention of everyone in the room as the Pope spoke up,

"…let this meeting commence."

Everyone looked towards him as he continued,

"We will be summoning heroes."

Everyone had a surprised look while a small smile surfaced on Amadeus' face beneath his veil.

- Far into the unidentified lands -

The atmosphere in the fortress had been really stressful, everyone there would look in the direction of the barrier and just see more cracks than before. Before they knew the cracks caused a small hole to appear in between them. It was small one, one that wasn't easily noticeable. Suddenly a steak of line passed through the small hole and headed straight for the fortress. Within a conference room, respective commanders were sat around a table discussing important matter when the streak of light entered the room and stuck the table.

As all of them were trained individuals, they all jumped and readied their swords when they saw what the intruder was. It was a simple arrow sleek in looks and looked no different than an ordinary one. Made of wood and steel, it was something that could be found in most regular armies yet this one had a piece of paper tied around is body.

Looking at the direction where it came from, the barrier was the only answer. However, what they saw next, sent a shock straight to their hearts. Running forward, they watched the barrier that looked normal collapse like shattered glass and a sea of black that laid behind. It was the very definition of devastation with a dark orange sky and black clouds emanating the energy of death and destruction. Among the sea were a hew rocs, well that was what they thought at first but then, these "rocks" seem to get up and large towers stood erected.

"Why is it so quick?"

An armoured wolf demi-human looked through a pair of binoculars at the army that lay on the other side. As if to answer his question a large humanoid figure appeared stepping into Orbis. The being's body emanated destruction as his hands pressed onto the edge of the opening. The whole figure was clad in black and looked like a shadow with the being's only distinctive feature was a pair of white eyes. White runes circled its body as it tried hard to get through the barrier.

The already fragile looking barrier seemed to have gotten stronger as it became harder for the giant to get through. Suddenly, the giant stopped moving and stood still there.

"What is he doing?"

The same wolf commander asked the others when another figure next to him spoke up, it was a blonde haired and gold eyes human wearing white armour,

"Has it given up?"

"No…"

A voice behind him answered his question as fierce looking man came forward. His aging white hair and stubble dictated his age and the respect in the surrounding people's eyes cemented his status. The man's vertical eyes narrowed,

"…he's absorbing the energy, no, rather nullifying the energy from the barrier, weakening the already weakened barrier. We have been stationed here to defend against the beings on the other side of that barrier, it seems we are to now fulfil our duty. The barrier has slowly weakened with time, I don't know how long the barrier has been there…"

"The barrier was erected 9001 years ago."

'Why the 1?'

Amadeus was bored off his mind sitting they're with all the geezers. Even for dragons, 9001 years was a really long time. It was even before his ancestor took the position as the dragon god. Amadeus looked at the archbishop that was rattling off when Irene came and whispered something in his ear. The archbishop saw this and stopped speaking as he waited and turned to Amadeus,

"Anything important your highness?"

"It seems you have to begin the preparations for the summoning."

Amadeus' voice was seriously unfit for this situation, but his presences was up there,

"Eh?"

The archbishop's face was masked with confusion when a priest also came and whispered something to the pope then his ear. One by one, more people came forward to whisper the exact same thing to their respective leaders.

"But its to soon…"

In response to the archbishop's mutter, the daemon king let out a laugh,

"Well life is full of unexpected turds, Bahahaha."

His guard came forward and whispered again to his ear, the daemon king coughed lightly and cleared his throat,

"Well life is full of unexpected turns, Bahahaha."

'Did he just act like his previous blunder didn't exist?'

Everyone in the room had the same thought but they brushed it off and followed along.

"Well then the ceremony will take a few years but the saintess will be joining the future heroes…"

The pope spoke up with a gentle smile,

"…anyone else want to send someone to represent them."

No-one cared about the few years as it was expected, such a large magic would require time,

"I'll be sending my little girl as well then, she has become rather uncontrollable lately. Ever since she got those blades…"

The daemon king was surprisingly the first to reply as the Gandalf wannabe also spoke up,

"We've had a genius with an astonishing intellect, we will be sending him."

"The dwarves will ready their equipment and ill be sending someone to handle their weapons and armour."

"I'll be sending someone to help them through their training and knowledge of the world."

The king of Alaendra spoke up as he carefully looked at the pope. Although they were all facing a common enemy, they weren't willing to let one side get the advantage over the other.

"The elves will also be sending someone."

"The Bestia kingdom will have someone arranged."

Only Amadeus was left to say anything as just sat there.

"We'll also have someone arranged…"

The pope smiled as Amadeus continued,

"…the said person will arrive once the heroes will be summoned."

"Naturally."

The pope didn't seem to mind as Amadeus got up,

"As for the talk of this leader for this so-called alliance…"

Everyone's ears perked up at this as it was a sensitive topic.

"…it will be delayed for now. Currently, we need to defend and hope that the enemy doesn't have good intel on us. It is highly unlikely for them to attack an unknown enemy if they want to conquer or even…"

Looking at the rest deeply, Amadeus' unbecoming childlike voice resounded throughout the room.

"…destroy."

Amadeus left that room wondering when his voice will get deeper.

クリエイターの想い
DemonicPanda

Hey guys, long chapter for you guys, sorry for the late release. If there's any inconsistencies let me know, i may or may not have forgotten some details :P

Oh yeah and names, im terrible with them so drop some suggestions for the head of nations, thanks.

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