“What is Randalph Brigsiel like as a demon?”
Ariel Diablo asked after Yihi ‘surrendered.’ There was a moment of silence after Ariel Diablo’s question.
Yihi snorted and spread open her ten fingers before counting them one by one.
"Nice, caring, cool, strong, smart, helps me out, a very attractive smelling magic power...”
"I understand. Stop. I roughly get the idea.”
She really would list his qualities without ending so Ariel Diablo waved her hand.
"Why do you ask?”
"Huhu, it has been a long time since I’ve been treated like this. By the way...if you can become the fairy queen then why are you here?”
"Fairy...queen? Yihi? No?”
Yihi’s eyes widened with shock as she answered.
But Ariel just continued like she was talking to herself.
"Doesn’t the contract only last until the fairy becomes the fairy ruler? If you become the fairy queen then you don’t have to maintain this current unequal contract. The emergence of a fairy ruler is something that all fairies desire. They long for it. It is something that can’t be easily replaced.”
“Bah, are you telling Yihi what to do? Do you think becoming the fairy ruler is that easy?”
"I know quite a bit about fairies. Fairy Yihi.”
At the same time, Ariel Diablo’s eyes turned a pale blue. It was a change from the usual red. The atmosphere was also very different.
Yihi’s mouth dropped open.
“You...”
"Shhh. This is a secret that nobody knows except for my deceased father.”
“H-how does a demon have fairy eyes? It is impossible...”
"I will tell you everything.”
Ariel Diablo looked around.
It was a small comfort that there was nobody around them.
After a while, her red eyes returned while Yihi was staring at her.
Yihi was nervous. It was like she was going to be eaten at any moment.
Ariel Diablo continued in a small but sharp tone.
“Fairy Yihi. I have told you one of my secrets. So won’t you tell me? Why you won’t become the fairy ruler even though you are capable of it?”
Ariel Diablo’s army was surprisingly small. Silver knights. It seemed like the white knights I heard a report about had been completed. They appeared exactly one day after Ariel Diablo.
I looked at them from the top of Greenwich Observatory. There were exactly 250 of them. Royal guards? They felt different from ordinary creatures.
‘It is like how it was reported.’
They weren’t significantly different from what Chrisley and Oswen reported to me. They had brought my invitations to the grand dukes and in return, they reported back to me what they saw. Their words weren’t exaggerated.
‘Is that all?’
I tilted my head to one side.
If so, she had great confidence. Ariel Diablo’s nature wasn’t to do a lot of back maneuvering. There was a reason why her preparations might seem lacking.
‘Confidence...’
That’s right. Ariel Diablo was completely confident in her creatures. That’s why I decided to judge it for myself. So...I needed to look more carefully.
250 silver knights came through the gates. Their sizes were different and all of them were female. Their ages were also different.
I took a deep breath.
Their magic power smelt a little different. There was an ominous feeling that I couldn’t explain. They were neither death knights nor dark warriors.
‘The synthesis of a new species.’
I nodded a little bit.
They weren’t an entirely new species. There was some sense of familiarity from the silver knights. The knights were all made of ‘advanced’ creatures.
There were no signs that they were even human.
I didn’t know what Ariel intended by combining the creatures together.
Or that it had even been possible.
‘I wonder what creatures were used? Interesting.’
There were thousands of different creatures. I only had a simple abbreviated list of creatures so it wasn’t surprising that I didn’t know every one.
However, that wasn’t what I was talking about right now. The knights were made by synthesizing creatures. Although they were a new species, they were usually called chimera. The problem was combining the creatures and ensuring that they maintain a constant shape.
‘Impossible.’
As far as I knew, it didn’t make sense.
I didn’t have deep knowledge about chimeras but I was certain about this.
A chimera made from combining more than three creatures wouldn’t be able to act.
It was because the body would become unstable and they would self-destruct.
I met the eyes of the silver knight in the lead.
“Hrmm...”
Those eyes!
I nodded lightly.
I noticed one truth the moment I met the knight’s eyes.
‘A large mixture.’
I was convinced.
The 250 knights that represented Ariel Diablo were a mixture of hundreds of creatures!
‘Indeed.’
I couldn’t ignore her source of confidence.
The date on the invitation.
I honestly hadn’t expected any of the grand dukes except for Ariel Diablo to be on time.
They were arrogant, proud and irreverent.
But it didn’t take long to find out that I was wrong.
The day after Ariel Diablo’s silver knights arrived. From the east, west and north...the armies of the grand dukes simultaneously appeared.
It was right after the appointed time so I couldn’t help but sneer at the coincidence.
A wave of creatures. Hundreds of thousands...maybe over a million creatures filled the fields.
A spectacular sight!
It was hard to feel any joy at the situation.
The sight was enough to cause despair. The large armies arrived in front of the doors. The grand dukes and the demons in their factions dismounted from their mounts and walked forward with dignity.
There was no tension in their faces. They were just filled with absolute confidence.
Each grand duke had no doubt that their faction was the strongest.
However, it was impossible to turn back. There would only be one final winner!
I couldn’t look weak. The weak demons were culled since birth...
"Open the door.”
I ordered.
Soon the door opened and they stepped foot inside the castle.
What should I say?
It was a strange atmosphere.
I had invited them to the Greenwich Observatory that was an excellent castle. However, the castle just looked small from the viewpoint of the grand dukes.
The numerous expensive decorations couldn’t satisfy their eyes. It was because there wasn’t enough time to get everything ready.
It was literally nothing more than a show. They had been caught.
There were a number of reasons, with the main contributor being the ‘invitation’ I sent. However, I didn’t see any signs of discomfort on their faces.
‘The contents were provocative...’
I wrote down a secret that nobody else knew. Their gazes were filled with questions about how I knew. Yet, strangely, there was no tension.
I led them to the banquet prepared for them as the creatures quietly played music.
“Have some.”
I copied a human’s banquet and politely handed them cups. This calm atmosphere...it was mimicking a human ‘party.’ In the case of the demons, they were uncomfortable because it was unfamiliar to them.
However, they were grand dukes.
They had experienced many things and were well prepared.
The factions gathered together and drank from the cups.
“The taste is okay.”
Upa smirked. He was someone with quite a lot of greed.
I replied lightly.
"This is the best drink. It is a cognac...I don’t know the name but isn’t it okay for a human brew?”
My words were insulting to the drink. I predicted that the alcohol lover Upa would say something.
However, his reaction was quite different.
“It is much better than the silly contents of the invitations.”
“It is funny since you don’t have the ability to write well.”
I parried his insult. Neither of us was apologizing. Even if it was a prank.
‘The magician of the moon isn’t here.’
I searched around Upa but couldn’t feel the mysterious magic of Gustarte. No matter how powerful the weapon, it wouldn’t be here if it was unstable.
That was what I thought.
However, the power of the demons under him was quite good. In the meantime, they had made steep progress and the magic power was slightly better than other factions’.
‘Succubus queen!’
The most prominent one was Groggy Inpir.
A demon who loved succubi. He filled his entire dungeon with succubuses.
He was accompanied by a succubus queen. A creature I hadn’t seen in my previous life. A high class 3Lv creature that had never appeared at the Demon World Auction.
It was clear that events were different.
On the other hand...what about Pandemonium?
He didn’t seem much different from before. It felt like his power was similar to when the girin and Korean Awakened first attacked his empty dungeons.
He had absorbed Okullos’ faction but that was all. He had also lost a considerable amount of power attacking my dungeon.
Out of all the grand dukes, Pandemonium seemed to be the most lacking. I didn’t know what Pandemonium was doing.
"This banquet...it is like the humans."
"Pandemonium, you must have experienced a human banquet. You have lived for many years.”
"I've never seen it before. By the way, you didn’t send the invitations for something like this, Randalph Brigsiel. Wasn’t it to discuss countermeasures?”
Ahh. I nodded.
I remembered that I had put that down in the contents.
But to be honest, I didn’t know Pandemonium would react this way.
The angels on earth weren’t very threatening. However, it seemed like they were aware that Camael would soon descend.
I opened my mouth.
“Countermeasures against the angels? Of course..."
"I didn’t mean that. Angels are things that I can easily step on.”
Then what?
I looked at Pandemonium with confusion.
But...Pandemonium’s face was distorted with displeasure.
It wasn't just him. The other demons and grand dukes were the same.
They thought I was pretending not to know.
‘There is something.’
The problem was that I couldn’t tell what it was.
But it was easy to figure it out.
They were seeking something from me so I just laughed.
“A special event...do you know?”