A woman with long messy gunmetal silver hair was sleeping in a position that no human would consider normal. She was wearing clothes that barely covered her upper body.

Her eyes opened and regained their light as the feeling of tiredness was lifted.

She looked around her room as she rubbed her eyes.

The room was luxurious even by her standards but given her position she could understand why they only gave her the best. There was even a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling giving the room a look similar to that of a king’s chambers. It was glass but had the reflective rays of diamonds. The bed she laid on was probably enough for ten more of her. There was so much space on it that she would never fall off.

“Hmm… maybe I should open some windows.” She flicked her finger.

Three windows opened up at once as a powerful gust of wind swept across the room. While at it she also used a low-rank spell to clean her body.

“Ah~ I felt so sticky from being in this room for two whole days.”

Freya York stood up from the bed and went over to the mirror. She looked at her wild gunmetal-silver hair.

“Eh, I guess I can leave it.” She said as she scratched her head.

She was never one to care about her appearance. She never wore makeup and never styled her hair. The worst thing about her habits was that she never washed herself every day(like people should). She would take baths only once a week as opposed to once per day.

She was much too lazy to scrub herself so she only used [Cleanse] spells. The issue with this was that she couldn’t quite get all the areas when she casts it.

“….”

She suddenly remembered something.

‘Hm… It’s been a while ever since I had a nightmare or been called by Them.”

Though she was skeptical about her peaceful days, she decided to enjoy it instead.

Thinking about those “things” that always haunted her would cause her to never truly enjoy her life.

A knock suddenly came from the door.

-Lady Freya, it’s me, Melissa.

“Ugh…” A groan leaked out of Freya’s mouth.

‘Why did she have to show up at my room!? Go away, witch!’

Freya calmed herself down before opening the door with telekinesis to let Melissa in. Though she hated the woman a little, she had to see what Melissa wanted since it might be important.

Melissa entered the room. She probably caught a whiff of something putrid since her nose scrunched the moment she entered.

“W-What’s that horrid stench?”

Freya turned her head to hide the flush on her face.

‘Right… This is the first time she came to my room.’

Many of Freya’s servants already knew her habits of not wanting to wash. They got so used to it that they don’t even mind it. But it seems like Melissa would need some time to adjust.

Or Freya could just stop being lazy and wash herself instead of just using spells.

‘Nope, I’m too tired. But I’ll do it tomorrow.’

“What’s on today’s menu?”

“Pardon?” Melissa tilted her head in confusion.

“Didn’t you come here to bring my breakfast?”

“Uhm… I actually came here to talk about the investigation of the portals and what we have to do with the demons we captured.”

Freya sighed loudly like a child who didn’t get what she wanted, “You never start your business without your first meal of the day. Go back and get mine from the kitchen.”

“But the investigation…”

“I’m not asking you, Elite Mage Melissa Frin.”

“….” Melissa bowed, “I’ll be back shortly.”

Freya just made a shooing gesture.

◇

Melissa returned a few minutes later. Contrary to Freya’s expectation of getting a full-house breakfast, Melissa only brought a bowl of grain porridge.

“….”

“I brought your breakfast, Lady Freya.” Melissa said with a smile.

‘Kuh! Y-You did that on purpose!’

Freya screamed at Melissa inside her head.

“…Let’s just get this over with,” Freya pointed at one of the couches inside the room, “Sit. I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

“I would like to ask a question first: how does the spell destroy a portal? I was going over the notes we made in our first class but I’m unable to clarify how it’s possible.” Melissa showed her notebook that was filled with equations, magic circles and different formula.

“I didn’t destroy the portals with the spell, I only lessened the demonic energy needed to make one appear in its natural form.”

“I see. So it’s more like a spell used to drain energy from a structure. Fascinating.” Melissa scribbled something down in her notebook, “You said the spell was 11th rank. Can you tell me again what kind of nature the spell uses?”

‘You just said you wanted to ask one question…’ Freya grumbled inside but answered Melissa.

“It uses the opposition of demonic energy.”

“Divinity?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm… I thought no arcane magic user can use divine magic or any other deviation of the original arcane magic.”

Magic was like a tree. Arcane—which is the first form of magic—was the trunk of the tree while magic like divine, black or curse magic were the branches which grew out of the trunk. Over time humans had been able to create different kinds of magics through the study of wizardry from the old times.

Freya wanted to explain this so that Melissa could understand that it wasn’t impossible for an arcane magic user to use other forms of magic. Though there was a low possibility of one being able to learn another form of magic just like that. The process was long and sometimes unrewarding.

“I can use all forms of magic because I’ve worked on it for decades. Through time I was able to modify the spell and improve the efficacy of it. I began doing this research when I was a second year at the academy. You must’ve read my book on how to modify spells using magic circle engineering.”

Melissa was frowning deeper as Freya spoke, “…”

“You don’t understand how I did it?”

Melissa seemed hesitant for a moment but shook her head a moment later.

“This is why you should only ask these kinds of questions to hear the answer instead of wanting to understand it.”

Freya probably sounded condescending. Her words could be taken as “It doesn’t matter how much you ask you won’t be able to understand it with your small brain” or something else along those lines.

Melissa didn’t seem offended at all, “I’m learning so much just by speaking to Lady Freya. I hope to be like you with my assistants as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Show them that there is a plain of magic they won’t be able to understand but can still enjoy learning about. We don’t live just to understand by consuming knowledge after all. We should understand our limits as well. That is how we find ways to surpass our limits.”

“Hmm…”

‘Did she see it that way? I wasn’t speaking like that intentionally though.’

Melissa asked a question so Freya only answered honestly.

“Thank you for answering my questions. I was having trouble understanding the theory behind the spell. Anyway, please take a look at this,” Melissa passed over a document to Freya.

· Reported places of demon sightings.

‘…I completely forgot about this.’

Freya’s job was to investigate the sightings of the demons and possibly interview the victims who survived. But she was a little busy playing around in the capital and inside her room to care about the reports.

She was so lazy that she didn’t even put everything together and just left everything laying messily in her office.

“Did you put this together?”

“Yes!” Melissa answered cheerfully, “I figured that Lady Freya must be busy with a lot of things so I went ahead and investigated all the places where people apparently sighted demons.”

Freya was impressed, “Good work. Now I can scratch that off my bucket list.”

‘It was never on there to begin with but you don’t need to know that, kukuku.’

Melissa smiled gleefully, “I’m glad I was of help you, Lady Freya.”

Freya opened up the file of documents.

“Did all these locations have witnesses or were there some kind of trail left behind by the demons?”

“To avoid false reports, I sent out scouts to all the regions in the empire. I asked my friends at the other towers to help me. Volunteers from the temples also offered to help since their divine powers can be used to detect demonic energy. They investigated the sightings and were able to find several traces of demons and some even spotted demons.”

“What do you mean by traces?”

“...People were found mutilated or skinned in the majority of these regions. Some were eaten alive but a few survived and lived to tell the tale.”

Freya noticed a sketch that was sticking out of the file. She took it out and saw exactly what Melissa just described.

There were people with their bones twisted out of their bodies through the chopped off parts, people who were being cooked alive and others that were seemingly forced to eat their dead comrades.

“That was drawn by one of the victims. They have a perfect memory so everything was drawn and written in detail. I can’t say much about the quality though… I will hire an artist to make a replica that’s higher in detail.”

“Where’s the written report then?” Freya flipped back and forth but couldn’t find it.

“…A lot of things happened so it will take awhile for the person to finish. They are going through therapy to help them overcome what happened. In addition, even if said person remembered everything down to the last detail, it doesn’t mean that they would want to talk to others about it.”

‘Right… Just the mere mention of it will bring back all those memories. Maybe I should use a spell to alter their memories so that they can forget about what happened.’

Of course, that was after the person writes the entire report of what happened. Freya wasn’t usually the kind of person to use her head since there was never a reason to do it but she had to act rationally from now onwards. Even if it meant that the person had to suffer.

It’s usually dangerous to wipe someone’s memory with magic spells. But Freya could do so without any side-effects. The spell she wanted to use was at the 10th rank.

“Do you remember the incident near Duke Berkley’s city? I believe it was in one of the villages he ruled over.” Melissa took back the file and pulled out another one. She showed it to Freya.

“Of course I do. Why?”

‘An official report from the Adventurer Guild Headquarters?’

Daraia finally shared some information huh, thought Freya with a smirk, she’s usually so stingy with sharing information.

“Many of those victims reported seeing the demons go back into the portal and leaving maybe two or three of their own behind. Every time the demons left, the group’s number dwindled. We believe that they were taking the females as prisoners and killing the males right in front of the victims.”

“They’re being used to have demon children… Like breeding machines.”

“Exactly. Which means that they are alive. But I wonder why they would take only women. Men were definitely useful for other things like manual labor or farming crops.”

“They killed the men because they only need the women, Melissa. Tell me, do you remember how crossbreeding between races work?”

“I was under the impression that it’s only possible for copulation between a few different races. For example, we humans can only breed with humanoids like elves, demihumans and some half-beasts like lizardmen and dragonewts.”

“That’s right. Dwarves, elves and demihumans are much more similar to humans so they are the perfect matches for breeding. But did you know that some demon species are also fitting to breed with humans?”

“How could that…” Melissa’s eyes widened, “Greater Demons…”

“Exactly. They are more human than any other species of humanoids. They resemble humans almost 90% except for their horns and sharp fangs. But their genitals resemble ours greatly. This brings another question, why would Greater Demons send imps and the species of demons to the village to collect women?”

Part of the reason why it was a remote village and not an entire city was so that their plans stayed under the radar and didn‘t alarm any of the major nations.

But Freya saw through their plans.

She could surmise from all the information on hand that the sightings weren’t random but coordinated by a higher being.

Possibly a Lord ranked monster or even a Demon Lord.

Melissa frowned as she was deep in thought. She tapped her finger on her knee impatiently.

Freya sighed, “They’re dying. A vast majority of their pure demons are nearly extinct. They are afraid that the primitive demons might overtake them.”

“Ah! That makes sense!”

“Really? Does it?” Freya asked mockingly.

Freya already knew that the demon race received a heavy blow when Promethius entered their world and started slaughtering millions while leading all this world’s races into battle. But Freya didn’t know that the damage the demons received would be so bad that they didn’t even have a lot of fertile females.

“If Lilith were still alive today then she would be pumping out babies daily,” Freya said with a chuckle.

‘I’m glad he killed that woman. She would’ve revived the demons if she were still alive.’

Lilith Greubon was a Greater Demon from the succubus race. She was born with the strongest genes ever so that meant that she was very fertile. Many men wanted to be with her and make her give them babies.

That was her every day life before she served the first Demon King, Ageol Sigirt I.

“Lilith… The whore who slept with all the demon lords throughout history?”

“That’s right. No matter man or woman, she slept with all of them to either bear their children or have the latter bear her children. She was just like her mother, Artemis. A breeding machine.”

Artemis was Lilith’s birth mother. The times of gods living on the mortal plain had long since passed so she wasn’t in this world anymore. Even if she wanted to go and save her own creations(demons), the human gods wouldn’t allow her to come down.

“What do you think is their end goal, Melissa?”

“Didn’t lady Freya just say that they want to breed to make more demons?”

“That’s not what I meant by end goal. I mean what is their next step. Can you tell me what it is?”

Melissa shook her head.

“Most outstanding Elite Mage of the decade, my foot. How can you not see the bigger picture?”

“I’m sorry…”

“They’re thinking of building an army to take on the gods.”

“What? Is something like that possible?”

“Perhaps… I’m not sure… Why else would the Demon King be releasing so much demon energy into this world: it’s to let her kind capture people and breed with them.”

“Wait, the Demon King is responsible for this?” Melissa had a bewildered expression on her face.

“How else do you think these portals are opening if not for the most natural phenomenon which is when a lot of demonic energy gather in one place? Maybe it’s something else but I have a hunch that she’s responsible for all these sightings.”

“…What should we do? The plan changed now that we know that the Demon King is actually causing all of this.”

“Nothing has changed,” Freya stood up and said with a confident smile, “That’s because I am here. She can’t lay her hands on my people while I’m around.”

Though she said that, Freya was actually very afraid of the kinds of things Arsnoria might end up doing in the near future. Freya had learned about many of the Demon Kings before Arsnoria but none of them were as ruthless and dangerous as she was.

But Freya had to appear confident since the morale of the people would change if they saw that even the most powerful woman in the world was afraid.

Melissa’s eyes sparkled but she didn’t show any big reaction on her face, “I-I’m sure the people would feel reassured once they hear we have lady Freya protecting us.”

“Mhm,” Freya nodded confidently, “I’ll have to get into contact with Jurnick to address what I discussed with you all back at the tower.”

‘I’m sure he’s busy so I’ll visit him after I’m done with my errands.’

“The hero party?”

“That’s right. I found a candidate to join so we have one member up for recommendation. I just want to clear this up with him.”

“Pardon…? You found someone worthy enough to be part of a group that would oppose the Demon King?”

“That’s right.”

“W-Who? And why this fast?” Melissa didn’t seem to be composed anymore as she looked at Freya with unblinking eyes, seeking an answer.

“I won’t tell anyone yet. If I did then that person would be in danger.”

“…Tch,”

Melissa silently clicked her tongue.

‘As expected, this little witch will blab to everyone.’

“I’ll tell our Emperor first. He’s the one who has the final say on the members. Like I said, I will be the leader if I don’t find a suitable candidate to lead the party.”

“….” Melissa silently looked at Freya.

“Do you have something to say?”

“….”

“Spit it out, Melissa Frin.”

“…I was thinking…” Melissa said with a small voice, barely loud enough for Freya to hear, “What if I become one of the magicians of the Hero Party?”

“Absolutely not.”

“WHY!?” Melissa hit the table between the two of them with both arms and glared at Freya.

“Lower your voice, Melissa. I am your superior. You should know that you shouldn’t act like this even if you want to complain about something. Act professionally. Like an adult.”

“But I… I am the greatest mage enlisted in any of the Seven Towers! I’m the only one is history to cast 10th rank magic! Why can’t I be part of the Hero Party!?”

‘She’s not listening at all.’

“I would already be filling that role, Melissa.”

“B-But lady Freya is the Archmage of the continent… Surely there’s no way you can just up and leave your duties?”

“I made preparations to deal with everything if I have a career change in mind or I just die.”

“Preparations…?”

“That’s all you need to know. I will become the magician of the Hero Party or I will advise a suitable leader. The party only needs one mage, not several.”

“But…”

“Would you stop with the buts for just one minute?” Freya said in annoyance, “I am more than capable of handling two separate responsibilities. If I weren’t then I would bring shame to my predecessors.”

All the Archmages before Freya were outstanding men and women. They could achieve feats that shocked the entire world and made their names known even in the songs of bards.

Freya hadn’t done anything that could make others say “as expected of an Archmage”. She could cast magic of a higher rank, she could use magic from different societies, times and forms, and she could resurrect the dead.

But these were feats all her predecessors could achieve. It was like putting together a small boat using one log at a time to cross a river.

At the other end of that river was the truth of magic.

Freya hadn’t even cut down her own tree yet to finish that boat.

Freya was hoping that the actions she planned to take in the future would wow the world instead of making them think that she could achieve things because she was the Archmage.

“…” Melissa gripped her dress and bit her lower lip.

“Get back to the lab. Call the others as well,” Freya snapped her fingers and her outfit changed from her pajamas to her usual formal wear which was a long mage robe dripped over her old academy uniform. Yes, she still had her uniform from all those decades ago when she was still a student.

“…Are we not pursuing this lead?” Melissa lifted the files.

“It seems you’ve calmed down. No, there’s no ‘we’, only me. You, along with your coworkers will stay here and learn the spell I mentioned last week. I’ll finish my errands first then check out everything listed in these files.”

“H-Hold on!”

“What?”

“About the demons we caught… What should we do with them?”

“Hm…” Freya thought for a second.

The investigation unit of the Second Magic Tower had apparently brought in multiple women who managed to escape the portals but were found to be pregnant. Some of them died after giving birth naturally while others were saved by modern-day C-sections.

There were over a dozen demon children in captivity in the Head Research Lab on the basement floor of this tower. There weren’t just Imps but some other strange species as well.

“You should become the head of the research lab. I’m not interested in studying these demons.”

“The head… Like the Overseer of Research?” Melissa’s eyes widened as a smile emerged.

“Yeah, just don‘t screw anything up. We can learn a lot from experimenting on those things.”

“Thank you!!”

Freya made a shooing gesture. Melissa stood up, bowed her head and quickly left.

Freya let out a sigh, “She’s an ambitious woman. Can’t say I hate it but…” she looked at the door coldly, “aiming for my position when she’s a mere employee of the Second Tower is taking it too far.”