Chapter 39: Impending war

In the southern half of the continent was the «Garland» nation.

It was known as the nation of the demonic beings of this world, «Tortus».

Although the demons had a much smaller population than any known race of «Tortus», they had a magical ability superior to any race of this world, which made both the human race; which had a superior amount of inhabitants, and the demonic race; which had superior power, to be in a position of equality.

That was until recently since the Grand Commander of the Demonic Army had initiated the conquest of one of the Seven Great Labyrinths of the world; which after many sacrifices by his demonic brothers, he managed to conquer, giving the demons the power to manipulate and use the monsters, thus breaking the state of equality they had against their enemies.

Possessing enough power to go against the humans; the race most hated by the demons because they worshiped a God different from their own, they had begun to make preparations for a full-scale invasion...

Inside the castle that stood in the center of the demon nation's capital; a golden-haired man, with his hands behind his back, looked out the glass window to the outside; the world seemed to be painted in a reddish color, where beings whose most prominent appearances were dark skin color, pointed ear, and golden eyes, walked around and often began to get angry, showing their reckless and wild personalities.

*Knock* *knock*

"Your Majesty, may I come in?"

A knock on the door, followed by a male voice entered the man's ears, who without looking back, answered:

"Come in."

A muscular built man, with long reddish hair, golden eyes, dark skin, and pointed ear, opened the door to the room and bowed to show respect to the man before him, who even without looking at him, gave off a majestic aura.

"Freid, how are the missions-for-hire going these days?" The golden-haired man asked.

"We have received word that Cattleya is currently waiting for the heroes inside the Labyrinth. As for the others, it has been decided that they will begin mobilizing within a month, as we do not want to mobilize without proper preparations." The man named Freid replied with a serene expression.

"I'm afraid you will have to update your agendas. We don't have much time." With a deadpan face, he continued to the lookout. However, in his crimson eyes shone a faint hint of contempt that went unnoticed.

Freid, the demon commander who had managed to conquer some Great Labyrinths, raised his face and asked:

"Your Majesty, can you explain the reasons?". He realized that, although the tone of voice of the man before him was expressionless, he would not normally say he was so hasty, so he deduced that something must have happened.

The man was silent for a few seconds before, for the first time, he turned his body to look at Freid.

"I received the oracle from Alva-sama. He only said to hurry with the conquests. Some variables are mobilizing."

"Alva-sama!" Freid's eyes lit up in adoration at the sound of his lord's name, but then he caught what the man in front of him said, "But what do you mean by variables? Is it one of the heroes or someone else?"

"It's that irregular who killed Noint-sama. According to Hearts-sama, right now the Irregular is not in action and the Cathedral of the Holy Church on the human side is decaying due to his previous attack, so now is the best chance we have to get the ancient magic and defeat the Irregular and wipe out the human race once and for all."

When Freid heard the word «Irregular», the serene and venerable expression he wore on his face was immediately transformed into a sneer of contempt and disgust.

He hated all those who dared to go against his adored God. He simply could not draw the right conclusion as to why there were such ignorant beings in the world as to show worship for any other God than the true one.

However, as much as he hated to admit it, the Irregular was a powerful one who could defeat Noint; one of his lord's apostles. Still, with his arsenal and some prior, well-executed preparations, he thought he could defeat him.

"I see. The Irregular is severely injured after his fight against Noint-sama, so even if the Irregular is someone who obtained one of the ancient magics from the Great Labyrinth of Orcus and his power is paired with ours, that doesn't change the fact that he's at his lowest point now." Freid calculated with a serious face and looked at the man before him.

"Your Majesty, I believe now is the right time to act and eliminate the irregular, as the chance of him recovering is high."

The man in front of him looked at him and shook his head, "No, you will go to Gruen's Labyrinth as announced earlier. We cannot risk mobilizing against the Irregular without knowing the extent of its powers. Besides, Hearts-sama didn't mention whether he was seriously injured or not, as her vision was blocked by something unknown."

Even after hearing what the man in front of him said, Freid didn't believe that the Irregular would come out unscathed after fighting Noint, but since there was a high possibility that the heretic would be healed with magic, it seemed more logical to him what the man said since it was better to secure the ancient magic before putting a face to his enemies.

"Very well, so be it, then, is there anything else, Your Majesty?"

"That hero boy's magic is quite useful for brainwashing monsters. I want you to send one of your minions to take our side. It's not a difficult task since Noint-sama already informed us about his twisted personality. He will do anything in exchange for a few words he wants to hear."

The golden-haired man spoke once more as he thought it was a pity that two of the heroes who were possibly the easiest to recruit were killed by that irregular, however, he shook his head and continued:

"I've heard that the human Empire is moving towards the «Sea of Trees» to capture the demi-humans, so I want Davros to lead a troop to confront them and find the hidden Labyrinth as soon as possible, if only by destroying all that scum. I need all of this to be accomplished in no less than a fortnight, understood?"

"Understood, Your Majesty." Freid listened intently to every word from the stoic man before him before bowing, "If you'll excuse me."

Saying this, Freid turned and headed for the door. With a serene expression, he muttered in his mind, 'Irregular... I don't know who you are or your goals in this world, but being irregular and a heretic, you have no right to live. I myself will be the sword of my God to execute you.'