บท 58: Mays and Stan
White Stone City, DarkMonarch's temporary headquarters. Stan was waiting for Mays patiently inside a well decorated room. Paintings on every side of the walls, sofas and glass table in the middle of the room and snacks were prepared in abundant. This room was modeled after their previous world, a perfect hotel reception's imitation.
"So, what's the deal with her?"
Raising up his eyebrow, Stan asked Mays who looks helpless as he dragged his right hand into the meeting room. The first thing Stan asked was not about the important information regarding the world nor further battle plans but the reason why Ria was inside their meeting room.
"Nothing much, just a sulking maiden in need of some cajoling. Just pretend that she ain't here."
"…"
Ria didn't say anything as she glared at Mays who dragged her toward the sofa. Instead of sitting beside Mays, she decided to sit on Mays's lap. She even harrumphed soon after.
"Before we started, let me clarify one thing."
"Which is?"
"We are in no way allies. We are just cooperating this one time only. Is it all right with you?"
"Good enough. I hate pawns which I can't control anyways."
That unexpected suggestion from Mays was readily accepted by Stan. He also had his own circumstances. True that these two might had some history between them but those were things of the past. They didn't have any shred of intention to work together anymore.
The only reason why Stan accepted this meeting was because he acknowledged Mays as an equal, someone who might be able to came up with the solution he might had not think of. There were none among his acquaintance who could compare to Mays, none even come close.
"For starters, can you tell me the secret behind your palm strike earlier this morning?"
"Even you couldn't figure it out? Maaaan, I'm quite delighted."
"Some clue, maybe?"
"No can do."
"Cheapskate. I give up. Explain."
"Hahhahah I just punched him using martial arts not from the game. Simple as that."
"The triple echo?"
"Secret martial art."
"The stunned status?"
"Secret martial art."
"The orange smoke?"
"Item duh, smokescreen powder."
"Gah! That martial art are such unexpected variant."
"Hehe right."
From the friendly tone of their conversation alone, no one could guessed that these two were actually enemies. One topic after another, the two of them were diligent at explaining their findings about the current world. Sometimes they shouted, sometimes they argued and sometime they even laughed together when they came to unexpected discovery about things they were discussing.
Their discussion continued for hours. Ria had long ago dozed off With Mays as her lap pillow. She was quite remarkable in her own way, able to fall asleep even when the other two inside the room were on a heated discussion.
Only when night came that their discussion finally ended. Both Mays and Stan was dead tired, their throat parched after talking for so long. Ria was unexpectedly still together with Mays, holding his hand without letting go as per her declaration.
"It really is a good decision for us to talk."
"Yeah, I can't deny that. Those theory of yours are noteworthy. I'll proceed to verifying your second theory right away."
"And I'll complete the first one. Best of luck."
"You too. If we really go back to earth, let's have another match of chess."
"I'll take you on anytime."
With a smile on their face, the two of them parted ways like how good friends always did. Mays led Ria and the rest onto Flamence before they immediately set off. Their destination was a distant dukedom at the border of Demon Continent, the BrutalBear Dukedom. Not even Ria knew why Mays was going to that place.
"You just let him go like that?"
"What? You want to do something?"
"This is a rare chance. We have the upper hand if we strike first."
"Sorry but I don't fight a losing battle."
Standing behind Whacko was Stan who was sullen when Mays and the rest left the area. He was sure that Stan would do something to them. Stan letting them go was totally unexpected. Whacko couldn't refute Stan's orders so he gave up after he heard Stan's word. He even kicked the wall of the house he leaned at before leaving as a sign of protest.
Stan was a bad guy. There was no denying that. Even with how gentlemanly and well-mannered he was when he conversed with Mays, he was without a doubt a bad guy. Killing, smuggling, robbery and many other misdeed was his daily activity. He was a bonafide criminal.
However, he never was a petty man. He was someone true to his creed. As the legitimate heir of an underground mob family, he was taught since childhood to be so. If he want someone dead, he assassinated them. If he want money, he robbed banks. He would never half assed things.
With his great way of thinking, his scheme was always perfect. He secured success on almost every assignment as if it was natural. But, he never stoop so low as doing things just for his amusement. He didn't rape girls when he felt like it. He didn't torture people because he could. He just couldn't understand why people do those kind of things. Maybe because he was born wealthy, he couldn't understand those things.
Stan was just one man, he was not a god. He couldn't control people. He wouldn't know what his underlings did behind his back. Even if he did know, he wouldn't stop them either as long as it wouldn't hinder him nor implicate him in any way.
Back in real world, he could demonstrate his prowess and instill fear in the heart of his followers. That helped him in chaining them, ensuring their loyalty to him. He had the capital and means to do so.
But here in this new world, everything was different. Trying to control brats who never had discipline was a headache. His proud guild, the DarkMonarch turned out to be one hell of a wastrel hive. Despite having the best possible gears and excessively strong bodies as a godkins, they literally sucks. Their personality, their temperament and their very existence was a joke.
Social recluse, fat ass lazy bum, useless rich kid and many more society reject type of people were his guild members. There were decent people among them but their numbers were few. Most of them were the useless kind who would never stake their life fighting monsters.
They would rather waste their time fooling around, doing things for the fun of it. With how much these useless people were influenced by anime and novels alike, they started acting like third rate villains in no time. These people were also the main reason why DarkMonarch was chased out from Human Continent.
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Flamence's carriage had a limit of ten people, two rows of seats facing each other. The inside was quite wide too where several people could stand in the middle without care. There were currently exactly ten people inside the carriage, seated side by side. Mays sat in the middle where Ria was on his right side while Hallel on his left. Beside Ria was Minerva while Kasimon sat beside Hallel. All of Mays's spirits sat on the other row of the carriage.
"BrutalBear Dukedom?"
"Is there a need to go there Mays?"
Both Hallel and Ria responded when Mays told them about their destination. Kasimon was not saying anything about it though. Ria was obviously clueless about it but Hallel was quite shocked when Mays mentioned that dukedom. She then took out the treasure map she had kept inside her space belt just to reconfirm.
"Knew it. No wonder it sounds familiar."
"What is?"
Mays asked a question toward Hallel who suddenly shouted. Without answering, Hallel pointed her finger at a cross mark on the map she just took out from her space belt. There was a small scribble on top of the cross mark. On closer look, that scribble was actually 'BrutalBear Dukedom' written in 'Ar Blanca' font, HeavensTale's official written language.
"Oh, it's a coincidence. Since we are going there nonetheless, we can also look for the treasure hidden there."
"Hehe right."
Both Hallel and Mays were in a conversation while the others were all silent. It was understandable for all the spirits to be silent but it was totally rare for Ria. It totally was unlike her to be lost in her own thought. Kasimon was keeping her silent as usual as she was not the type to talk a lot to begin with.
"There is something I need to verify here in BrutalBear Dukedom. It would be great if the secret to going back could be found there."
"Eeeh? We can go back to earth?"
This was the first time Hallel had heard of it. Before this, Mays never mentioned about going back to earth, let alone finding clues on how to do so.
"Maybe but I'm not sure. One of the three variant elements is in BrutalBear Dukedom, that's for sure. Wait, you're here longer than me you should know more."
"How should I know? I spent five years here in this continent."
Trying to defend herself, she came out with a somewhat decent reason of her own. She was even proud of herself when she came up with it.
"I obtained these info from Stan you know. Even he himself said that the secret of this world are hidden deep in demon continent."
"He… He is… gah! Fine, I'm just a muscle head! Satisfied?"
"You admit it yourself hahahhaa."
"Tch!"
Hallel clicked her tongue and pouted soon after. There was no way for her to refute that. Kasimon who sat beside her chuckled at that childish respond but she never said anything about it.
Meanwhile, Ria who sat beside Mays was still silent. She barely spoke after they all entered the carriage. Her sight fell on the other two who sat close to Mays, Kasimon and Hallel.
Kasimon was always indifferent. Even when Kasimon and Mays was acquainted for years, their relationship was fixed. Kasimon only held veneration and respect toward Mays who saved her and her brother, nothing more.
Hallel on the other hand showed overly friendly attitude when she talked with Mays. There were also traces of admiration and longing in her eyes. As someone who fell for the same guy, how could she not noticed something that obvious?
"Uh."
Ria let out a dejected sigh. If there was someone Ria was envious of in HeavensTale, that person would be Hallel. Before coming to this world, Ria never cared about this guy named Hallel. But now, everything was different.
This Hallel was actually a girl and she had feelings for her man. Despite the two of them being grouped as the best eight, she was only ranked sixth while Hallel was the undisputed second. Hell, she even won against Mays before that.
The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became.
"Eh?"
Ria who closed her eyes for quite some time felt warmer all of a sudden. When she opened her eyes, Mays was right in front of her, slowly lifting her in princess carry.
"EHHHH?"
"Syhhh."
"What are you doing? Stop! Put me down!"
Ria's face turned redder by the second. She really was weak to these kind of treatment. Not to mention that there were other people beside them inside the carriage too.
"How can I not do anything when my princess is troubled? Please tell me what it is so I can help you with it."
"Nothing! There is nothing! Now put me downffffffffhhh."
Ria's banter came to a sudden halt when Mays forcefully stole her lips, kissing her on the spot. She tried resisting at first but gave up after a few second.
"Still not gonna tell me anything?"
With a mischievous smile on his face, Mays once again asked the same question.
"There is nothing! And stop doing that kind of things in front of others. It's embarrassing!"
"Others?"
Mays observed the whole carriage before he continued.
"Other than us and our spirits there are only my attendant and…. A muscle head?"
"Who is the muscle head, jerk?"
"You admitted it earlier yes?"
"Bleh!"
Hallel jerked her tongue out and stopped arguing with Mays. There were traces of envy and jealousy in her gaze when she looked at Mays and Ria. She knew what the relationship between the two was. But still, she couldn't help it. In the end, she was just a friend.
"And Ria, you don't need to worry. I will never leave you again, ever. I am your prince charming after all."
"Pffft. Prince charming? Hahhaha."
"That's more like it. Your cute face is a waste if all you do is sulking."
In the end, Mays couldn't figure out the reason why Ria was not being herself. But his action did reminds Ria about their relationship, making her gave up thinking about it. She just have to be herself and do whatever she wanted. Nothing else mattered as long as she felt good.
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Matilanak Kingdom.
A kingdom located to the east of Holy Cloud Empire. It was under the influence of the empire but it was allowed to retain its own ruling power over the kingdom. Its military might and commence was several times better than Mercia Kingdom.
Kukukaki was a city located not too far from Matilanak capital's city, a large city on par with the capital city itself. There was several old mansions inside this city and the most eye catching one among them was the slanted mansion.
This slanted mansion was totally ancient. There were traces of dust and rot and rust almost at every part of the mansion. There were no sign of life inside the mansion either. This mansion was labelled a haunted mansion by the people living around these parts ages ago. Nobody approached this mansion since then.
None of them knew that there was actually an underground chamber below the mansion. The chamber even had a tunnel which led to an underground cavern.
This cavern was no ordinary cavern. It connects several cities and nearby kingdom with the narrow tunnels all over. This cavern was the headquarters of DarkMist, an organization founded by Dominic the Omnipresent.
Several humanoid monster currently flocking inside one of the chamber in the large underground cavern of DarkMist's headquarters. This chamber was decorated quite nicely with a big round table in the middle of the chamber. The walls were painted red with several candlelight holder placed on it. There were also a big rectangular mirror at the left corner of the chamber.
There were a total of six humanoid figure inside the chamber and Dominic was actually one of those present at the moment. All of them were sitting at the round table, facing each other with a stern looking face.
"So, you are saying that the two who defeats Winged Associates are now in demon continent?"
"Yeah. I get that info when I did my weekly check up on the empire last week."
A full scaled humanoid chameleon replied to Dominic. He was the one in charge of gathering information around the empire. With his racial skill [Disguise], he could blend into human society as a merchant.
Ever since The Alliance took over the empire four years ago, they had wiped out all humanoid monsters inside the empire. This radical action was led by Leet and it met quite the opposition from Jace and the rest.
Leet's hatred against monsters was just too strong due to something which happened during the Great War. This action of his indirectly hindered Dominic's intelligence network quite a bit. Leet had no way of knowing that though.
"Red Wargod Mays and Pink Demon Ria. To think that two legendary figure which are not tied to any power started moving all of a sudden. Terrifying indeed."
Dominic had long ago kept a reminder about the terrifying figure of eight godkins of legend. He learned about them after the Great War ended with their side losing. The previous demon king was too hasty. He thought that his overwhelming might was more than enough to trample the humans. His fall was all because of how overconfident he was.
"Red Wargod appeared out of nowhere and led Pink Demon away from her solidary mountain. The two of them was as strong as an elite godkin squads."
This time, it was a humanoid tiger kin who commented.
"Black Death Stan and Whacko were chased out of human continent four years ago. They might already be in some part of Demon Continent. Is there any chance for them to group together with Red Wargod and Pink Demon? All in all, they were still humans."
"There is no way for that to happen. The grudge between them are too deep for reconciliation."
That same humanoid chameleon answered in certainty. Dominic might not know the details as to what transpired four years ago but as someone who lived here in the kingdom, he knew. After everything DarkMonarch did came to light, every members of The Alliance hunted them down wholeheartedly which resulted in them fleeing into Demon Continent.
"I'll take your word for that. Any movement from the two big alliance?"
"None from The Alliance."
"Nothing worthy of notice from those at The Sentinels either."
There was no way for these backwater normal bosses to know that The Alliance was preparing for a large crusade at the moment. None of them were aware of the HiddenMercenary who just arrived at The Alliance headquarters either.
"Considering that those two were legendary figure, I'm sure that they will defeat the portal guardian. I might need to go back to Demon Continent as fast as possible to sort things out."
An elite party of twenty five was enough to take down a low ranked insane bosses let alone two legendary godkins which surpassed those elites. Among all three portal gate in demon continent, two of them were guarded by low ranked insane bosses. Only one of them was guarded by someone elite, a ranked ninth insane boss.
"I bid my farewell for now. I'll come back if I need something else."
"Yes sir."
Dominic entered the big mirror inside the chamber soon after. The others immediately left the chamber and started doing their own job inside the headquarters as if nothing ever happened previously.
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