Meeting Aire again in the Etelia forest

"Do you know how long I waited for you to arrive?!"

Says Aire with an excited face.

After Aire had made his "grand" entrance by falling through the door restrained, we caught up by chatting for a while.

But I wonder what's taking them so long.

By them I mean Licuz and Zonn. It's been quite a while since we've parted with them so I do wonder how the discussion with the elders are going. I really do hope they take the offer, because if not, I may have to use some force.

I hope they come under me voluntarily when I'm giving them the chance to.

"I was always waiting for you to arrive, but you never did."

Aire's excited face soon turns dispirited.

"Ah sorry, Etelia was a bit too far for me."

I try my best to cheer him up by lifting a smile.

As our conversation went on, it became apparent that his behavior was vastly different from when I first met him. I guess everyone changes when they're on the brink of death.

Right now, he seems more playful than anything else.

Hmm? Now that I think about it, isn't Aire an auror too? When I first met him back in the Pelunia forest, he was just starting out, but from the residual aura I'm feeling from him, it looks like he managed to become a full-fledged pawn after a few years.

As Aire continued rambling about himself, I managed to find out many things about him and the tribe.

First of all, it appears that Aire is apparently the lead architect. As the head of their architectural team he possesses authority just below the elders and captains. Aire manages how the manpower within the tribe is to be distributed and also builds houses along with other various different structures.

He seems to be very knowledgeable about all things construction. As you might expect, he was the one who lead the restoration and construction of the temporary village.

We do have architects back at the demon realm, but even if we compared the giant structures back there to the basic houses here, Aire's superior skills still takes the cake. It really shows how talented he is.

And going by the fact that they just recently built them, Aire's construction skills must be on a different level.

When we finally recruit the dark elves, I should put him in the position of the leader of the construction team as we need someone like him for the realm's growth in the future.

"And-"

"So why are you not in the meeting?"

I casually cut off his words so he would not blabber about random stuff any further.

"Ah that? It's too boring with all the stuffy old people and leadership stuff."

"They're just gonna shout and scream about whatever they want to, there's no point in joining."

He breathes out a sigh of disappointment and looks towards the ground.

Well, I guess I do share the same thoughts as him back in my third life. After I decided to stop fighting, I avoided all sorts of political meetings in order to get away from those greedy nobles and stuffy old ministers.

I really do regret it.

Not missing the meetings, no no. I have never once regretted that.

I regret not being able to kill them myself and cause them utmost pain. After all, it was because of them that my kingdom fell into ruins in such a short time. Those bastards sold out information to other countries.

In hindsight, I guess it was my fault for being too complacent.

Just thinking back to it makes my blood boil.

Still, shouldn't Aire at least consider attending the meeting? It does contain the future of their tribe after all. But he doesn't look the least bit concerned.

"I see."

"But I was wondering, why were you at the Pelunia forest back then?"

So I ask while curiously staring at him.

"Well you see, I was doing gathering some materials and looking at some human structures for some architecture projects."

"Even though I disliked humans back then, I couldn't deny that their structures were top-notch. I probably wouldn't be as skilled today if I didn't regularly go out for that."

Ah now I understand. Since the Pelunia forest is close to both Corsair and Etelia it makes sense for him to show up there.

Now I know why he's been nearly killed a few times.

Corsair unlike some interracial nations, is mostly dominated by humans with few beastmen settling down on the outskirt villages of the kingdom and little to no contact with other species.

Because of this, elves and especially dark elves are never really seen there. The appearance of one would probably attract a lot of the slave traders and more so bandits' attention to kidnap and find out where they came from before auctioning them off for profit in the black market.

This is common practice within the underworld in nations with mono-ethnicity.

Speaking of which, Corsair actually has quite a huge underworld. Actually it wouldn't be accurate to say Corsair's underworld, it's more like an underground alliance between Corsair's and the neighboring Ashelocke's underworld.

I went to their black market once with Elaine since I was interested to see what they were selling, but there wasn't anything that I needed. But we did manage to recruit a few demons from back there.

In addition, most of the black market should be under the control of one of the demons now. Thinking back to it, wasn't she one of those we saved from being sold as a slave as well?

I haven't seen her for more than a year now when she left to do business there, I wonder how things are going for her. She's a little older than both me and Elaine, so she should be around 18 now?

She too was infected with corrupt blight, so we saved her in hopes of recruiting her to out cause.

The last I heard from her was from a report by Risa stating that she successfully took over sixty percent of the black market and she would contact us when she completely takes over.

In terms of smarts, she's probably second to none within the demon clan. Her only issue is that her talent for demonic arts is low, despite being a person who recovered from corrupt blight, she didn't attain the huge mana capacity like Elaine or Risa.

The good thing is that she can use artifacts really well. I still remember her showing me her stash. I think if any other mage saw it, they would probably faint.

"If you're wondering about how the meeting is going, I would say don't worry. Although those elders are stubborn they all respect the founder's wishes. As do I."

Ah I was so deep in thought I nearly forgot I was in a conversation with Aire. I guess it's for the better since I didn't have to listen to him chatter about random bullshit.

"Hmm?"

Aire gets up from his seat and bows politely towards me. I raise my eyebrow at this odd situation.

"Would you might showing me your powers?"

"No problem."

I waved my hand and once again gathered mana which caused the air around me to sway as demonic energy could be felt exiting my body.

Aire took a step back upon witnessing the strands of demonic energy and kept his jaw and eyes wide open in shock. He stood there for a good few seconds before making a noise.

Just shy of his eyes were drops of sweating that were dripping down his face.

"This...This is unbelievable."

"You really are as the prophecy foretold."

[BAM!]

"Oof!"

The door suddenly slams open, smashing into Aire who was standing directly behind it and knocking him to the side.

"I suddenly felt unusual energy, are you all alright?"

It was the guard lady.

"We are fine, I was just displaying my power a bit. But I think you should close the door..."

She turns and glances at Aire who was currently squashed between the door and wall.

"I'm terribly sorry."

"It'z nu worriez." (It's no worries)

She releases her grip on the handle and leaves the door three quarters closed after stepping into the room.

"I have urgent news. The elders are done with the meeting."