Mr. Abies

"Why is that?" I asked, "Aren't you powerful?"

"Powerful my ass" He rolled his eyes," the church went low when they summoned me."

"That's because it's a mass summoning, Captain Fern." Reyna suddenly spoke.

"Oh please, I've heard the same reason hundreds of times." He scowled. "It does not change the fact that they summoned me to be a no one."

"But in the end, Captain, what happens to you depends on you, the church is very generous with its rewa—"

"Generous?! Am I also going to hear that again? So you are saying that everything I've done for these 3 years were irrelevant and not worth of a good reward then?!" His face twisted, followed by a deep vein appearing on his neck.

"N-No Captain!" She retorted.

"YES! YES IT IS REYNA" Fern shouted while he struggled to sit straight from his lying position.

Reyna and I watched Fern try to sit for about 5 minutes. Except Reyna wears an almost teary face.

"Captain…" She whispered, "Are you saying our time together was… irrelevant?"

"Wait…" He gruntled

Then after a few seconds, he is finally sitting straight above Bettu.—Should I remove their binds? But I don't know how to…

"Iris! Ivy!" I shouted, then the two beautiful women were behind me.

"Yes, My Lord?" She asked, sneaking a sharp glare at the two humans who are now sweating beads.

"Untie them? My Lord?" She frowned.

"Yes, you heard me."

Her eyes traveled all over before continuing, "But they may harm you, My Lord."

Seeing the commotion, Reyna spoke "W- we won't hu—"

"Shush!" Iris interrupted her.

"Can you two please just do it?" I insisted.

"But My Lord, they are huma—"

"Please?" I pleaded her. "And no listening! It's an order!"

With a sigh, Ivy waved her hand and the glowing ropes binding the two humans vanished to thin air.

"Well that's settled." I clapped my hands. "Would the two of you go down or do you prefer being on Bettu?"

Without an answer, the two got down Bettu, their feet sinking lightly on the soft soil that surrounds the river.

"Hey Reyna." Fern whispered as he got closer to the river.

"Hm?"

"Our travels weren't irrelevant." He slowly smiled, "I would have loved every second of it, if it weren't for those hollow puppets."

"I can agree, Captain." She replied with a hearty smile.

Fern sat down then followed by Reyna. While I lean on the now sleeping Bettu. "Do you remember that group of winged goblins?" Fern asked, pickup up a nearby stone and skipping it across the river.

"Oh yes, the church had a huge money placed on top of their heads." She replied, watching the stone jump along the quiet river.

"The church again huh…" I spoke, making my way across the two who are probably lovers, and you can't convince me otherwise.

"Well it would be fair if I were to say that the church is everywhere." Fern mused, picking up another rock.

"But that would only be right considering that they protect humans from…" She looked at me, "Monsters…"

"Hey, I was a human before…"

"Right, I'm sorry if I… offended you." She said, looking at me with soft eyes.

"Don't worry, none taken." I waved my hand, sitting beside Fern, "Now tell me more about this, church of yours."

Without waiting, Reyna spoke. "Well, the church protects all humans! They summon otherworlders and train those from this world to be stronger! Also, they provide help to different towns, kingdoms, empires, tribes, Everyone! They give direction to confused people an—"

"Slow downn!" I interrupted her continuous spree of words with zero intervals.

"O-okay." She stuttered.

Fern laid down the soft soil, "Finally, some rest." He sighed as his body leisurely touched the ground, his hands serving as his pillows.

Some rest?

"What does he mean by some rest?" I asked Reyna who is searching for a rock to skip along the river.

After a few seconds, and a short 'hmmm' she replied, "He's been running quests offered by the church for 3 years."

"Quests?"

"Yes!" She shouted, "Like slaying a band of monsters on a nearby town, providing protection for a Noble being transported, gathering resources, going for criminals, collecting information and a lot more to improve the quality of life."

"What did they give as a reward?"

"Money."

"Gold?"

"Yes, Gold and Rubis"

"Rubis?" I looked at Reyna, "What are those?"

"Oh!" She jumped, "Rubis are the currency of the Southern continent…"

"So I could assume we are in the Southern continent?"

"Yes…"

"Okay, back to the church, why did Fern not look so happy with that?"

Hearing that, she took a soft glance at Fern then replied, "Because my Captain desires power, not money —Captain is actually pretty rich! He owns a beautiful villa on Jonvale."

"Jonvale?"

"The nearest Kingdom from here…"

"I see, and what kind of reward did he want?"

"Captain could have wanted things like, spellbooks, swords, pills, artifacts but the church only gave him money…"

"Couldn't he buy those with money?"

"Sadly, the best qualities of those can't be bought with money." She mused, throwing a flat rock across the river that skipped 9 times.

"Nice, it skipped a lot." I smiled.

"Thanks!" She replied, "Captain taught me this…"

"Thank you, by the way." I whispered before picking up a small rock, playing it with my fingers.

"For?"

"Ever since getting here, this has to be one of the most peaceful times I've had."

"Well, it is pretty common for otherworlders to be under a lot of stress… Just that for them, the church provides a lot of services that can calm them and help them adapt — But for you, I doubt any of those were given…" She continued, taking a pitied look at me.

Oh! it's like that huh… I wished to be a tree to live a peaceful 10 Thousand years of watching time pass but nooooo, here I am now as a f$@!#*ing demon lord.

"Yeah, ever since getting here I've been slapped with anxiety, stress, not-knowing-what-is-going-on."

"I see, it must have been hard then?"

"Not really, there were 5 people who have been with me." I sighed, "Paired with this… magnificent forest."

Eventually, a bout of silence descended on the three of us, leaving the talking to the owls, the insects and the rustling leaves. Until Reyna herself fell asleep. But I don't feel that though —and it really sucks because I would want to have a nice long sleep right now…

"It's not really like what Reyna said." Fern's voice suddenly came up.

"You're awake?"

"Answer me, if a group of monsters suddenly kidnap you, would you be able to sleep?"

"W-well… isn't Reyna asleep?"

"Probably, she sleeps like a literal log." He snickered.

"Tell me then, what things aren't exactly as Reyna said?"

"The Church." He answered without a second thought.

"What about them? They seem like they protect the people."

"They protect what benefits them is what it is." He smiled below the stars. "They protect towns that have nobles in it, leaving the poor ones to be eaten by monsters. They provide the best protection to other Nobles but only a few soldiers to some. Gathering resources where they get a big cut." He paused, then slowly sat up.

"Went for people who went against them and label them as criminals. And collected information against their perpetrators. " He sighed.

"Why doesn't Reyna know about those then?"

Then he laughed, saying, "Because they do them under holy wraps, and Reyna was cultivated by the Church and I do not need to explain that."

"I see— she said you want power?" I asked, "Is that true?"

"Very… very true." He squinted his eyes. "Who doesn't?"

"Well then, I can give you one of my fruits if you agree to be my human envoy!"

Then there was a moment of silence again.

"How powerful will that make me?" He asked, breaking the awkwardness… I really needed that.

"I'm not sure… but Bettu was smaller than my arm, but now she is bigger than I."

He laughed, "I'll think of it… Mr?"

"Call me… Abies."

"Okay then, Mr.Abies, I'll think of it."