Currently, four people were seated at a circular table with gold embellishments.

One was a man with a useless aura.

The second was a woman with a beautiful face.

The third was a pupiless, tired-looking man.

The fourth was an elegant young man.

They were respectively named: Erebus, Tear of the Moon Goddess, Yvick, and Vyne. Erebus, upon his request, had a plate full of small mana stones in front of him that he was happily eating.

“I see, so Triton finished the set for me.” Yvick folded his large hands on the table. On each of his fingers were at least five rings made of precious metals. “May I have it?”

Erebus reached into the pouch on his hip and then tossed the two black stones towards Yvick.

“Thank you.” Yvick pulled the stones that dangled on his earrings off and then replaced them with the new stones which instantly stuck to the metal.

Yvick held the other two stones in his palm and crushed them. He opened his hands and allowed the fine dust to turn into liquid and dripped to the ground.

“I could’ve eaten them,” Erebus said with a frown as he watched the wasted mana drip to the ground before being absorbed.

“Exactly why I crushed it.” Yvick’s face remained impassive.

“Tch.” Erebus made a face.

Tear and Vyne awkwardly shifted in their seats, they weren’t sure how to act around Yvick. Erebus had said Yvick was serious but they hadn’t been expecting this. The aura Yvick gave off had a sterness to it that made them keep their mouths clamped shut.

He was nothing like Triton or Erebus who had much more easy-going personalities.

“So, Erebus, how have you been as of late?”

“I got bored so I became a Quester.”

Yvick quirked an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yep. It’s the reason why I met Triton, he was at the bottom of one the dungeons we explored.”

“Hoh... there’s a dungeon nearby. Perhaps you can explore it after your stay here.”

“Is there really?” Erebus perked up instantly.

“It hasn’t been explored by the humans yet.”

The excitement that had faded out of Erebus was back in full force.

“But, the entrance only opens every few months so you’ll have to wait here.”

Erebus leaned back in his chair and groaned loudly.

“I apologize,” Yvick said without any trace of truly being sorry.

With a wave of his hand, Erebus dismissed Yvick’s ‘apology’. “Have you been in it yet?”

“I have no interest in those places. I’m content with staying here and gathering knowledge. Though, the number of Questers coming to challenge me has increased a lot. Those humans sure are getting rowdy.”

“Indeed, they labeled me as a Demon Lord and kept sending raids to subjugate me.”

Yvick laughed softly. “A Demon Lord, eh?”

“Irony, I know.”

“That reminds me, are Stone and Magnus behaving well?” Yvick unfolded his hands and a serious expression settled on his face.

“Yes, the two are rather loyal fellows.”

“That is good, then.” The corners of his lips tilted upwards in a wry smile. “If they weren’t I’d have to come and punish them.”

Erebus laughed. He knew that Yvick wasn’t joking.

Yvick turned his intense gaze onto Tear and Vyne. “Are these two also your subordinates?”

“I am Tear of the Moon Goddess.”

“Vyne of Tartarus.”

The two bowed their heads respectively as they introduced themselves.

“Oh, the Moon clan? I see... I remember that clan. You lived in the [Murderous Forest]?”

Tear’s expression confirmed his question.

“A waste, truly. The elves and humans wronged the High Humans. I sent my men out to destroy their armies but I wasn’t in time to save the clan.” He let out a sigh. “I managed to protect your sacred stone, though. It is still there. The forest itself is recovering, also.”

“Thank you.” She was truly grateful.

“It is my duty as the Demon Emperor to do such things. I hope that there were other members of your tribe who managed to escape as well.”

“My mother said they had others ran away, too.”

“Ah... let us hope they survived like you did.”

“I pray to the Moon Goddess and Moon God that they did.”

A somber atmosphere settled over the four, even as Erebus and Yvick recounted stories from the past.

Yvick even told the story of how he became the Demon Emperor of the Lower Continent:

He was born in Tartarus. The demonic clan of Hulad-Ruhi was known for its superior strength and agility. His grandfather was the leader of the said clan, and Yvick was to be the heir because his father had been wounded and could no longer continue his career as a warrior of Hulad-Ruhi.

So, Yvick was trained rigorously by the clan elders to prepare him for taking leadership of the clan.

Yvick gained power and with that power he grew arrogant. In no time at all he had managed to pass his grandfather in terms of strength. To him, he would be an unstoppable force.

Deciding this, Yvick challenged his grandfather to a duel, expecting to win easily. The loser of the duel would be exiled.

Since Yvick thought he was going to win, that would mean his grandfather would be kicked out, leaving Yvick, the heir. He would become the clan leader if he won this.

A young, rash, arrogant clan leader, that is.

But Yvick lost to his grandfather. Yvick had never been a real fight in his entire life. He had never been attacked with the intent to kill. Compared to his grandfather, who had fought countless enemies stronger than him, Yvick was but a child.

This outcome surprised Yvick to his very core. He thought that he would win yet the battle ended almost instantly.

His grandfather hadn’t given him any time to prepare, the second that the overseer of the duel told them to begin, his grandfather charged. Yvick met face to face with death before he was knocked out cold.

When he awoke, as per the rules of the duel, Yvick was exiled from the Hulad-Ruhi.

A now very humble Yvick decided to put himself through rigorous training, a training that he would have to alone.

A part of his training was traveling the world and meeting people more powerful than he for the sake of growing even stronger.

Actually, it was during this time, around two thousand years ago, that he met Erebus.

He challenged Erebus to a duel after seeing him easily take down the monsters that had attacked him.

Of course, Erebus defeated him with little to no difficulty. This lead to Yvick begging Erebus to train him, he wanted to grow strong like Erebus was.

Surprisingly, Erebus agreed to this and trained Yvick for a year. Mostly due to his half-assed nature, Erebus stopped training Yvick because he was ‘bored’ of it. Still, in this short period, Yvick was able to grow immensely in strength.

Erebus told Yvick he would be able to grow even stronger if he went to the Lower Continent and fought the monsters existing there.

Yvick at this time, by the way, was already at Demon Lord in terms of physical strength.

He went to the Lower Continent upon his teacher’s request. And then, before he knew it, he had become a Demon Emperor.

Erebus would still visit him from time to time. Yvick used to challenge Erebus to a duel every time that this happened.

Soon enough, though, Yvick lost the hot-headedness of a young man, and started to invest his attention to gathering knowledge. He, of course, still trained but not to the same extent. He also stopped challenging Erebus.

When Yvick finished his story, Tear, Erebus, and Vyne all applauded him.

“Then, Yvick, do you have a library that I could use?” Vyne was quite eager to see all of the information that Yvick had stored away.

“No.” Yvick tapped his skull. “I keep it all in here.”

Vyne frowned. That was not the answer he wanted.

“That was a joke.” Yvick stood up to his full height of about two and half meters and gestured for Vyne to follow him. “Come, I will show you all of the knowledge I have amassed.”