“How long till we reach Mumur?” Duarno asked Zich on their way to the famed city.

The group earlier had to ditch the carriage since that beast’s breath had already made it unusable. Leona’s magic could only protect the insides of the carriage and thus the wheels couldn’t make it out of the ordeal. Were it not for two of the four mounts surviving, they would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere right now.

“It would take us around 10 hours if we continue at this pace.”

A day had gone by since they last witnessed the onslaught of the monster and night had already once again descended

“Let’s camp out the night. We will leave for Mumur early morning.” Duarno said. The charred fog returned with the night making it impossible to guide, especially now that the noticeable landmarks were also flattened by the earlier fireball attack.

The group soon found a suitable enough location and got off their mounts. Leah was sleeping the whole journey and the parents knew they would not be able to get some sleep after she woke up, which would be any moment now by the way. And so Leona took a quick nap as Cassie kept a watch over Leah, while Duarno lit the firelight and guarded others and Zich, being the sole ranger of this squad, scouted their premises for any danger.

After making sure that there were no eminent threats, he reunited with the group.

The group sat around the cackling firewood as Cassie cooked the scraped up rations that survived the fire.

“Your highness, I know nothing of the underhanded politics that go on in the court, but the omens so far have not been good. The sudden transfer of most of your knights to the capital of Buzrok two months ago. The mysterious death of the 4th prince. You then being sent to the frontlines at Fyov. The court ordering you to make a deal with the [Thanatos].” A grave tint shadowed Zich’s voice as he continued, “And now an unknown beast almost killing us all last night, I worry that someone from within might be targeting your life.”

Zich carefully worded his thoughts, as he knew that going against the royal family, especially the crown prince, was punishable by death. If anyone were to hear him, not only his family but even Duarno would be implicated.

And Duarno was no fool. He knew how ambitious his brother was. The ninth prince had in fact made his stance clear long ago, that he was not one bit interested in inheriting the royal throne, but it seemed as if Jonas wanted to take no risks.

“I know. But I don’t think even elves could control that beast, let alone Jonas.” Duarno replied as a conversation he had with the dwarven envoy resurfaced his mind.

‘[Inspect] miserably failed when I used it upon the creature.’

“Daragoon” He stroked Leah’s cheeks, who woke up some time ago and was staring intently at her father with twinkling eyes.

‘How cute!’ Papa Duarno thought as he slightly tickled peanut causing her to let out smol giggles.

“That’s what the beast is called.” The giggles did alleviate his mood but couldn’t suppress the gravity in ninth prince’s words.

“Daragoon!”

Even though it was the first time Zich was hearing this word, but he could very well understand the majestic being this word represented.

“Your highness, meeting general Leonhard before dealing with Thanatos…”

“We cannot. Leona’s father is already busy dealing with the elven forces around Mergag. And Thanatos is now officially a partner of our kingdom, so we would just be bringing trouble to him if we involve him in this political mess.” Duarno resolutely refuted the idea Zich put forward.

About the sudden appearance of a dragon, it was definitely a coincidence. There is no other explanation for it.

And for the fact that Jonas was after his life, he still had Leonhard and most of the military regiment’s support so Jonas would not be as brazen as to eliminate him amidst an encroaching war.

Plus, the exchange he was having with Thanatos could very well help the devils turn the tide and win this war.

“You improved your levels? Show me your status.” Duarno asked Zich as he took Leah in his arms.

“Not yet” A discouraged sigh left his mouth as Zich clenched his fists, disappointed at himself.

Character Screen

Name:

Zich

Age/Gender:

23/M

Level:

12

Class:

Ranger

Race:

Devil

Title:

None

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Status

1) Abyssal Speed 2) Cursed to total oblivion 3)Loyal Subject

Duarno thought for a while before replying, “The region around Fyov is suitable for you to level up your class. But you better work upon your combat skills like [Archery] and [Martial Arts]”

“And teach your wife some self-defense too. We are no more in Buzrok and even a bandit could pose a threat to her here. Plus, the more there are to protect Leah, the better.” He said as he woke Leona up since Cassie was done preparing the meal.

** **

Mumur.

It was a scantily populated town, given how huge it geographically was. The broken remains of the previous era were yet to completely erode and so the devil kind started living in whatever was left of it.

Sure, the rubble that fell every now and then from the dilapidated houses posed mortal threats to the residents but they had lived long enough in Mumur to know what will collapse and what will not and so they didn’t bat an eye to it.

However, that was not the case with the occasional visitors who came there. And Duarno learnt it the hard way.

‘Pfft’

“Why?!” Duarno glared at Leona who was laughing at him, for it was the second time a wall collapsed on him.

The first was when he slightly grazed the rubble of a half-wrecked building, causing its adjoining wall to rain onto Duarno’s head.

The second was, however, completely Leona’s doing.

“Just cause” She playfully winked as she kissed Leah on her cheeks, who couldn’t, at a first glance, exactly identify her da after seeing in a weird ‘dusty’ state.

“Da!” One could see the ‘aha!’ expression on peanut’s face as she finally found her da in the soot covered man in front of her, followed that was what felt like a worried ‘da?’ and two small wide arms asking her to jump ships into daddy’s arm.

“Of course, it’s only my sweet little peanut who truly cares for me.” Duarno baby-talked as he wiped himself off using the cloth Zich brought, before picking Leah in his arms, who Leona reluctantly gave away, “unlike the baddy mommy we have here.”

Leona took it as a provocation and looked at Duarno with a ‘hoh? You are approaching me?’ kind of expression.

“See here, Leah. It’s your favorite star here. You would come to mommy, right?” Leona flaunted the napkin that had a star embroidered on it.

“Ha!”, mocked Duarno, “As if Leah would…” But before he could even finish his sentence, a sweet little voice interrupted him, “Ma!” and that’s it. Leah was more than ready to leave his proud daddy behind.

“You still have a long way to go” Encouraging pats landed on Duarno’s back as he tried calling out for foul play.

A sense of accomplishment could be seen in Leona’s expression as she proudly harrumphed just before showering Leah with kisses. Leah was still so enamored by the embroidered star on her handkerchief that she even seemed to ignore her mother’s kisses.

“Enough playing around. We are already at the emissary’s manor.” Duarno said as he flicked the forehead of the smug face in front of him before staring at the only well-built structure he had seen ever since coming to Mumur.

** **

“Aurbus. You can call me that.” A broken jaw tattered as the ‘dead human’ sitting in front of them spoke. His bony hand croaked as he put it forward for a handshake.

‘Inspect’

[Inspect(unique)]

The skill [Inspect] has been synergized with [Dominator], granting you the ability to peer through the statuses of beings with dark mana, ignoring the level difference.

A blue screen soon opened up in front of Duarno’s eyes.

Character Screen

Name:

Aurbus Reinhood

Age/Gender:

60+103/M

Level:

34

Class:

[Greater Lich]

Race:

Undead

Title:

Thanatos’ finger

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Status

1) Decay 2) Soul corrosion 3) Memory loss

It was either Aurbus’ appearance, or the foul odor the room emitted, but peanut was super-spooked ever since she entered this place, which was evident from her fearful expression that persisted no matter how much her mother consoled her. And to her utter dismay, that weird thing was even trying to approach her ‘Da’!

Were it not for her limited vocabulary, consisting of only ‘Da!’ And ‘Ma!’, she surely would have vocalized her worries properly. Unfortunately, all she could do was cry her eyes out while extending her right arm towards Duarno and use her left one to hug Leona with all her might.

Aurbus awkwardly cackled as he retracted his arm before wearing a fancy looking glove on it.

“We generally don’t have visitors so I might have unknowingly offended the princess. Apologies for this discourtesy.” Being one of the elders of the Thanatos’ lower council, Aurbus never had to greet someone personally, but the deal this time was big enough for him to be personally present. After all, it was the devil kingdom they were dealing with, someone who’s the very product of the dark magic they so much adore.

Leah too toned down her crying, as she saw the monster retreat away from her Da, who was consoling her along with her Ma now.

Leona had peanut escorted out of that room through Cassie as the foul smell was too much for even the adults to bear, let alone that poor infant.

“Let me congratulate you on getting the dukedom of Et’thun, your royal highness. I truly hope..” Aurbus did a light bow as he got up from his chair.

“We can skip the needless formalities, Aurbus. We would have to rush to Fyov too.”

“As you wish, your highness” Aurbus said as he let out a mice that was hiding within his sleeves. He tied a small note on his neck and let it free and an awkward silence descended the room.

“Let’s continue our discussion someplace else. The stench here is… questionable, to say the least” Duarno said in an authoritative tone as he got up alongside Leona. He knew that Thanatos sided with the crown prince and might even act as a threat to him so he had to make sure that he let Aurbus knew that he too had quite a bit of authority.

“That’s a bit…” Aurbus fumbled, but was interrupted by an agitated ‘hmm?’ by Duarno.

“Very well. I will have my assistant meet us on our way instead.”