บท 74: Prologue
An: This is an double update so don't forget to read the Vol 2 Epilogue
"They should be here any moment now." Clayman muttered to himself as he put away his pocket watch back into his suit. The agreement to share the information may have been an informal one, but an attempt to hide his discoveries would put him in an unfavorable position with other demon lords. Not to mention, the show Tempest put on was watched by everyone who had the sense to send field agents.
He glanced around the room, already prepared for the meeting. As usual, his servants had done an excellent job making sure everything was simply impeccable. The life-size painting depiction of himself was a most recent addition to the decor. The artist had spent two months painstakingly making the depiction of Clayman so lifelike it would feel like looking at his own reflection in a mirror.
On the table in front of him sat all the observation orbs and a folder with brief summaries from his field agent observations.
'Hmm, Frey should be here first as usual. A minute or two early as she…' Clayman was rudely interrupted from his musings when the door flung open with a loud thud.
"Show me! Show me! Show me!" Milim barged in with overly excited squeals.
"Milim!" He exclaimed, and then added after a subtle exhale. "I didn't expect you to arrive so early."
She just waved him off and ran up to the table, picking up one of the observation orbs. "Show me the battle!"
"Patience. Frey and Carrion have yet to arrive." Clayman said with a smirk. 'She will hold back in fear of damaging the orbs. The brat's behavior is easy to predict.'
Milim let out an unsatisfied growl and slumped down in the chair. She then put her feet on the table and tapped them together to splatter around the mud left on her boots.
'She…' Clayman closed his eyes for a moment. 'She is doing this on purpose. Where did she even manage to step in the mud? No matter. Everything she ruins can be replaced.'
The wait in uncomfortable silence didn't last long, as both Frey and Carrion arrived on time and added their own reports and observation orbs to the table.
"With everyone present, I think we can begin." Clayman announced and waved over the orbs, activating them. "I would assume everyone already knows how the battle between Gelmud's forces and Tempest went. Thus, I propose to come to an agreement on how we should approach Tempest."
Frey picked up Clayman's stack of reports and quickly skimmed through them. "So none of your agents saw the Storm Dragon Veldora, either?"
"Veldora would have burned down everything himself. He always was like that." Milim absentmindedly remarked, her eyes glued to the orbs.
"I thought you hadn't met him either." Carrion said.
"So what? He has a reputation for burning down entire countries for fun. And as far as I know, he never had any subordinates." Milim said with a bored tone. In the recording, both sides were just prepping up and nothing interesting was happening as of yet.
"Veldora aside, I would prefer avoiding open confrontation with Tempest, unless it is a joint effort from all demon lords." Frey said, putting down Clayman's report and picking up Carrion's, who in turn took Clayman's report.
"Agreed. Considering what forces they revealed, I would have to use the entirety of my armies and intervene on the battlefield myself to defeat them." Carrion said while reading the documents at a casual pace.
Clayman leaned over to take Frey's report, "Then we agree on a diplomatic approach, at least for now?" he said.
"I'm certain…" Frey started to say, but was interrupted by a loud squeal coming from Milim. "That thing! I want to fight it!" The orbs that showed the battle from many angles at a synchronized pace now showed the immense earth elemental.
Milim jumped to her feet and pushed her face into one of the orbs as she gripped the table and continued jumping up and down.
From outside, her actions may have seemed that of a child, and such tactics had worked with all the previous demon lords. Most stop taking her too seriously, while others... She intentionally tightened her grip on the table which cracked at the strain, failing against her unreasonable strength.
'Ha ha, Clayman's pulse is going up. Treat me like a child all you want, you still can't even open your mouth to tell me off.' Clayman's tactic of showing off his wealth as some sort of status symbol was laughable at best. She could easily destroy all his valuable possessions, and all he could do in response was to pretend that it was not happening.
'That elemental looks like a fun toy. I should go talk with them directly and get the first pick if Veldora is not involved. If he is, I doubt he will be too angry at my visit… If it comes to the worst, I should be able to fight him on equal terms. Now to play-up the child persona.' "U…U… I am going to Jura. It will be so much fun. First come first served, am I right?" She shouted with an overly enthusiastic voice.
"Now, now, Milim, we shouldn't rush…" She just cut off whatever Clayman was saying with a simple, "I said I am going! You can follow if you want, but don't get in my way."
When all three of her peers could offer only stunned silence, she waved, saying, "See ya." and ran out the door.
Clayman let out a tactical cough, "So we agree on Diplomacy?" he said as he turned his head towards his remaining peers.
Carrion responded first. "Yes. I will send an introductory letter before visiting the place myself. If Milim is already there and in one piece, I'd prefer to meet Tempest's leader in person."
"The chance of meeting the Storm Dragon is a risk, but I agree with Carrion." Frey chipped in.
Clayman put his index finger to his lip, "It would be beneficial to arrive there at the same time. The three of us together would have a better position if a fight broke out. Millim may ruin any possibility of peace with her recklessness, after all."
With the two nodding in agreement, Clayman could let out a sigh of relief. 'If things go downhill, I can use these two as shields and get away unharmed. Such as if Veldora is out of the prison and not in a particularly talkative mood.'
The dragon, after all, was a walking catastrophe, a threat even a demon lord should be wary of. But one thing was clear: The balance of the world was shifting, and the Forest of Jura was the central place of the coming change.
Proofreading by Sad_Smiles, alassandro, and Somnium Hypnos.
AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available.
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