“What?! A Great Beast had attacked Citadel City?!”

“I would say it wiped out the city entirely, milord.”

I pinched the corners of my eyes. What is happening in this world? Great Beasts were supposed to be of legend and apparently, now they are real. This is disturbing news indeed.

“Milord, what shall we do?”

“What shall we do indeed.”

“Perhaps, we can summon a familiar to fight this giant beast?”

“A familiar? How long would that take?”

“It depends how strong you want the familiar to be, milord.”

“Then tell me what kind of Great Beast destroyed the city.”

“According to witness accounts, the Great Beast was a giant red fox with yellow eyes and nine tails.”

“Giant red fox…?”

“Do you have any problems with that account, milord?”

“No, not at all, I trust in the account of my people, but I just want to know… how ‘giant’ are we talking about.”

“From what we were told, the size of the Great Beast was as large as the walls, so we expect it to be around 17.5 meters tall.”

“A Great Beast that size managed to destroy a fortress city?”

“Yes, milord.”

“I guess we need to develop a new strategy to take care of it then… Why was the Great Beast in the city anyway?”

“We do not know, milord…”

“What do you mean that you ‘do not know?’ That seems preposterous.”

“Some reports have stated that the gigantic beast appeared suddenly in the center of a ‘hurricane made of flames’ and it appeared to be enraged.”

“Then that means we have found the dungeon that lies beneath the city.”

“Dungeon?”

“Never mind that, I have a basic idea of why the Great Beast might have appeared suddenly.”

“I see milord, now returning on to the topic at hand, shall we summon a familiar capable of destroying the Great Beast?”

“Yes, prepare the sacrifices.”

“How many, milord?”

“10,000 souls. Inform Cardinal Redwood, that I will be expecting him to arrive within the upmost hour.”

“I will inform one of my subjects to get him, but is there something I may ask, milord?”

“What is it?”

“It is about your succession… you have two sons borne to different wives, on the same day. What will happen when you pass away?”

“Well, isn’t that an interesting question… I plan on dividing my Kingdom between those two. They both will receive an equal amount of land and fortune.”

“I see, milord. But you do realize that war will be an eventuality between those two.”

“I know, and it saddens me to foresee two of my sons fighting to the death in their futures, but there is nothing that I can do about it, all I can do is delay the inevitable. All I can do now is just hope that those two will be able to negotiate with each other in the future in the case that it happens.”

“I understand the predicament that you are in, milord, may I put myself forward and suggest that you select a sole heir before that happens.”

“That would be a wise decision, but as a father, it would be impossible to choose between my two sons.”

“I see, milord.”

“Say, do you know anything else about the Great Beast?”

“Well, I have heard some rumors from those who travel between the demon realm side of that continent and the human side. But there is no way I can confirm them.”

“Rumors you say?”

“Yes, milord.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“The Great Beast has been rumored to have eaten the Demon Lord himself.”

“The Demon Lord… you mean the one that went missing suddenly 3 years ago?”

“Yes, milord.”

“Then this Great Beast appears to beyond our capabilities at the moment…”

“I guess we have to gamble on the familiar, milord.”

“It appears so, but is it right to put all our faith in such thing?”

“Thing?”

“This familiar… it won’t be human, nor will be a truly living thing as well. I would have rather that we recruited a mercenary from the Demon continent.”

“Milord, you know that would be impossible, especially with the current truce with the Demon Empire.”

“Right the truce… the truce that will expire in 15 years, and we will once again be plunged into war.”

“Are there any issues with that, milord?”

“We have been at peace for so long against the Demons, do you think that we are prepared to fight another war?”

“I believe that we are, milord. We had nearly a thousand years to prepare to bring eternal peace to this world, once and for all.”

“Eternal peace huh? Now that is a legacy that I can only hope to leave before I die. If not, I hope it will drive my two sons to reunite the Kingdom when it has been divided.”

“I believe that all of humanity will unite once more to fight the Demonic threat.”

“I have heavy doubts about that, I predict that some of the human kingdoms will side with the Demon Empire, and we will be fighting our own, brother-against-brother, father-against-son.”

“Milord, that is a horrible way to think.”

“Perhaps it is, but we cannot forget that humanity is divided between which of the gods to worship. 800 years ago, humanity once worshipped one god, now there are 4 to choose from, and of course some worship the same God as the Demons.”

“The Demons worship a god?”

“Strange you would think that they would not because of what they have been blessed with naturally, but they do, and unlike humans, they only worship one god.”

“Is there anything that you are hiding from humanity, milord?”

“Perhaps I am, Perhaps I’m not. That is something I will take to my grave.”

“I understand, milord, but the rest of humanity, besides those who have traveled from the Demon side of the middle Continent haven’t heard about the Demons for quite some time, how have you found a way to?”

“Life is full of great mysteries, isn’t it? Now, shall we head to the Capital Monastery? We should not keep Cardinal Redwood waiting.”

“Y-yes, milord…”

“Perhaps it is time for them to act… before this world is destroyed…”