Not Only Her but Them!

Worried that he would disturb the sleeping Lucia, he slowly walked out of the room.

Evan was startled as he peeked through the door. "Piwood, Gerrow?!" He thought they had left the Throne Room after being given orders by Lucia. Still, instead, they were eavesdropping outside the room.

"Ah, I'm sorry for eavesdropping, My King! We are worried about Princess Lucia's condition." Then, with a hand tightly gripping the sobbing Penguin's beak, Piwood explained why they were there.

"So you already know the consequences of performing the Demon King Summoning Ritual?" Closing the door slowly, Evan asked Piwood.

Apart from he woody skin and leaf hairs, Piwood has human-like characteristics. After hearing Evan's question he could only lowered his head and slowly release his grip from Gerrow's beak.

"Even though I told Princess to wait for one of the Servants to return to Darkness Castle so that her sacrifice wouldn't be this bad. But it seemed that Princess had reached the limit of her patience. So first, she sealed the throne door with her magic so that others could not prevent her from performing the Summoning Ritual. Then, she took it all on her own." Piwood regretted not being able to do anything to stop Lucia.

"So you mean none of the servants came back here?"

"Yes, the ritual should have been carried out 500 years after your death. But I don't know what happened to the servant that kept them from coming back here."

"Then why don't you think about leaving this place and looking for one of the servants?"

Piwood and Gerrow stared at each other for a moment, then looked back at Evan.

"Follow me, My King. I'll show you something that might make you understand."

Precisely what made Lucia so desperate to perform the Summoning Ritual herself? With that foundation, Evan hopped onto Piwood's shoulder to see what he would show him.

At the end of the windowless hallway was a staircase that looked gloomy because it was lit only by torches. Seeing that no stairs were leading to a higher floor, Evan was sure that he was on the highest floor of Darkness Castle. Then they came down.

Evan felt that Piwood had been walking down those stairs long enough, lucky he got a free ride. If he did it himself, maybe his little feet would go numb.

When Evan was getting bored because he didn't arrive at they destination, a strong gust of wind made him almost fall. But, seeing that Piwood and Gerrow were behaving normally, he felt that only his little body was bothered by the gust of wind.

As the wind got stronger, he saw a bright light shining on the lower stairs shining from the stairwell window. As he got closer to the window, his neck, which was quite long, tried to peek outside.

"W-what! C-clouds... Which castle is this tall?! From any point of view, this isn't a castle!"

"You were surprised by the height of the castle you built yourself? There are still 12 more castles that look like this."

"This looks more like a tower than a castle. Eh, wait a minute. There are 13 castles??"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot that you have amnesia. Let me explain. This castle is the main headquarters of the Darkness Kingdom. 1000 years ago, the other 12 castles were used as residences by the races who had sworn allegiance to the True Dragon King."

"Then where are the castles now?"

"Unfortunately, the castles used to be close together, now they are spread all over the world. You should have heard this from the Princess. After the war and the struggle for the throne had occurred, Princess Lucia asked each servant to guard each Cursed Equipment and separate it into each castle. Then with the power of each servant, they moved the castle to an unknown place to avoid seizure."

Hearing Piwood's explanation reminded him of the Nuclear Dragon guarding the Cursed Sword. If it's true that the sword he got was the True Dragon King's Cursed Equipment, it couldn't be denied that the Nuclear Dragon was one of the True Dragon King's 12 Servants.

Piwood's explanation ended when they had arrived at the place he intended.

"We've arrived, My King." Piwood stopped in front of a large door 10 meters high. It wasn't at the bottom of the Castle because Evan could still see the stairs leading down.

"What is this noise?"

"You'll know when you see it, My King." Gerrow pushed open the big door with his two wings.

Slowly something that could change Evan's point of view began to appear. Something that he didn't even think of. It was civilized.

"H-how can there be a village here?"

Monsters of various races seemed to respect each other, no hostility or hatred to be seen. Even though they were from different races, all of them got along well and did not hate the differences between them. This was a small example of Lucia's wish being realized, so warm and soothing.

As the little children of the Tree Man race, Goblins, Birdman, and Orcs came to Piwood and Gerrow. Just looking at the little children, Evan instinctively immediately hid among the thick Piwood leaf hairs.

"Master Piwood, Chief Gerrow!!" Some of the children circled Piwood with admiration, and some of the others played with Gerrow by grabbing his fur. Behind the little children followed by some of their parents.

"Welcome, Master Piwood." They bowed respectfully to the 3321-year-old Tree Man.

"Your expressions look worried. Did something happen? Are the food supplies okay?" Piwood could easily guess their expressions.

They just stared at each other, neither daring to explain it to Piwood. But a man from the Goblin Race dared to explain.

"Pardon our helplessness, Master Piwood. However, the food supply that Chief Gerrow gave us 3 days ago has been contaminated by the snakes that keep coming." The man lowered his head deeply and was followed by another monster.

"Lamia Race! Apart from the contaminated, were there any food supplies that were salvaged?" Piwood was annoyed but tried to be calm.

"There were a few we managed to save, but I guess they only lasted 2 days." Then, finally, the Goblin man explained the results of his calculations.

"Until the next supply of food arrives, I hope you'll be frugal with what's left. And as for the men, stay alert and kill any snakes that intrude." Then, to calm the monsters down, Piwood gave an order.

"Master Piwood, is the True Dragon King Summoning Ritual about to take place soon?" One of the minor children surrounding Piwood asked innocently.

"Soon, after a few servants return to the castle, Princess will definitely do it. Don't worry." The same thing Piwood kept saying for hundreds of years to calm them down.

The little children shouted with joy. They then left Piwood and a penguin that was already a mess.

"Lamia Race! They seem to be serious about weakening our strength."

When it was quiet, Evan pulled his head out of Piwood's leaf hairs. "Bwaah! What exactly are their goals? Thrones and Cursed Equipment?"

"Not only that, but they are also after the Princess's power."