章 22: Interlude: Lilith's Plan
"Miss Lilith, you are looking as beautiful as ever." The fat man in front of me spoke as I sat down in front of him, the wooden chair creaking as it supported my weight.
"Marquis William, I see your words are still full of flattery."
"I only speak the truth. I've never seen any woman as sexy as you, and I've even met the three holy maidens once. It's a shame you're only into other woman…" He sighed.
The man in front of me was a noble of the southern continent's Revilon Empire. Despite being a lord of one of the three holy empires, he was still one of the most perverted and wicked men that I have ever met. Other than the earnings from his land, he also works in the slave trade between the two continent halves, kidnapping young girls and boys in his home country and selling them here in the north.
He was also a close friend of mine.
"Even if I was into men, I certainly wouldn't do it with you." I gave him a look over. Where did he get that confidence? The man might have weighed three times as much as me considering his size.
"So why did you ask me to come here again? Do you know how dangerous it is to cross the Chaos Peaks?" William asked as the fat on his chin jiggled.
"You're a sturdy man, I knew you would be fine."
"If the people back home knew I was secretly meeting with the Demon Lord of lust and even helped you kidnap the prince second-in-line to the Revilon Empire's throne, let alone me, they wouldn't hesitate to kill off my entire my family!"
"You're such a crybaby. The wagon I gave you is enchanted and can hide you from almost anyone when you're crossing. The chances of you getting caught is almost zero." It was true. My enchantments were some of the best in the world, only a handful of people could notice them, let alone break them.
"Fine, fine… I owe you a bit, I suppose. Fortunately, the goods this time won't disappoint you and, of course, you get first pick. Nine beastkin girls and six humans girls, all virgins. I also have a few men if you want to experiment some more with that insane blessing of yours. Would you like me to show you the merchandise?" He asked as he pulled out a key, probably to open the backroom where the slaves were held.
"I'm not here for more slaves, I want buy some information."
His brows lifted in surprise. "The Demon Lord of Lust actually caring about normal affairs instead of adding to her harem, that's a first. What do you want to know?"
"The heroes. Tell me about them."
"I see. Well I'll tell you what I know but it'll cost you." The man put up two chubby fingers with his left hand. "Two platinum."
"Fine." I set two platinum coins down on the wooden table without bothering to negotiate. The money would be enough to buy every slave in his caravan, but I didn't hesitate to pay. While I was relatively poor for my rank, money was still no object to me.
Seeing as I had no objection to the price, he began to talk. "Two weeks ago, the leaders of the three holy empires, lead by the Anos Empire, pressured the Church of Order to commence the summoning of the nine heroes. Unable to withstand the united front, the pope gave in to their demands."
"Why did the empires want to summon early though?"
"I'm not quite sure, but my best guess is that they already know that the information on the summoning has been leaked, so they wanted to strike early."
"Alright, continue."
"I'm sure you know, but after that the summoning was only partially successful. Six heroes were summoned, the bodies prepared for the heroes of courage, love and purity did not awaken. I don't know much about the actual heroes themselves, they've been closely guarded by the leaders of each empire along with the pope himself. Most of what I can tell you is mere rumors that I've heard, but even then a lot of it will be incorrect."
"I'm not interested in the summoned heroes. I want to know about the ones who weren't summoned."
"Why would you want to know about them?" He asked, obviously curious at my intentions.
"Just talk."
"Well alright then." He let out a sigh. "The one I know most about is the Hero of Courage, who's aspect allows him to purge fear and increase the strength of his allies. At lower ranks, it is considerably weaker, only affecting those with a close relationship to the aspect holder. As the hero gets stronger, he will be able to inspire entire armies and increase their attributes to the point where it will be impossible to rout them, unless you are able to kill every last soldier or slay the hero himself. I don't know the specific details, but I do know that the Hero of Courage is usually ranked in the middle in terms of power between the heroes."
What a nasty ability. To increase the attributes of so many individuals, even if only by a small amount, is most definitely worthy of being an aspect.
"As far as the aspects of love and purity are concerned, I don't nearly as much. The Hero of Purity either gains some support or healing ability as they don't usually fight on the front lines." He paused to scratch his chin, a little embarrassed. "The information on the aspect of purity is the most confidential, to the point that even someone as amazing as me cannot access it despite my powerful connections. Technically speaking, purity would be the opposite to you, Demon Lord of Lust." He pointed at me with his chubby finger.
"And the Hero of Love? What about them?"
He shook his head. "I know basically nothing about them."
My brows rose in surprise. "Nothing? Is it that confidential?"
"No, its not confidential. The information just doesn't exist. The past three heroes of love were never once able to activate their aspect's power, and that is the furthest back the records in the church go, at least to my knowledge. In fact, you're better off asking the Demon Lord of Pride about it, he might be the only person alive who knows what it can do. Nowadays, most people in the southern continent believe that they are just a fake hero or do not have an aspect at all, so there was little disappointment when they were not summoned."
"I see." So the loss of three heroes wasn't as much of a hit as we believed. "But it unlikely they do not have any power at all, perhaps the aspect is just more difficult to activate."
"I suppose you might be right. The Hero of Love has always been the first to die as their stats are generally pretty weak and with no aspect or extra protection like the Hero of Purity, it is easy for you demon lords to assassinate them before the crusade even begins. If they had survived a little longer, they might have had a chance at activating their aspect."
"Well that is all I'm concerned about. Have a good night, Lord William."
He threw his hand forward to stop me. "Wait! Don't you want to learn about the other six heroes? You know, the ones you will have to actually fight?"
"Nope, not interested. Stay safe on your return trip." I got up from my seat and left, throwing another platinum on the table. It's always good to tip a little, even if I didn't learn everything I wanted to know.
"Mistress, why did you want to learn about the heroes who weren't summoned?" Lucinda asked. Her voice seemed disinterested, but I knew that because she opened her mouth despite rarely speaking, she was in fact extremely curious.
"Oh, I just have a nagging suspicion that keeps bothering me," I said dismissively before changing the subject. "About tomorrow, is everything going according to plan?"
"Yes, I already contacted the Burned Man to tell him to go ahead with the kidnapping in the morning after they left," she said as she followed behind me. "But are you sure about this? Even if he agreed to our demands, that girl is pretty important to you. Are you sure you want to proceed…"
My face froze for a second, before it returned to normal. Lucinda actually spoke against my plan, even if she worded it in a way so I would';t notice her true intentions. To think she of all people would start caring about a mere slave. Could my theory actually be correct?
"It's fine. The Demon Lord of Envy only wants one thing from me, and as long as there is a slight chance of me giving it to her, she will never push my bottom line. And perhaps this plan of ours will have some additional benefits." I grinned.
Life was surely getting interesting, I hadn't experienced anything so interesting like this in a long time.
I hope you won't disappoint me, my little kitten.
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