REPORT

The meeting was still ongoing. The gathered leaders thought about how they were going to deal with the oncoming threat. Dona, who was bored from lying on a sofa outside the room, came in and sat on Kojo's lap. Tye lay in her lap, and she gently pet his fur as he slept, purring. Sharone and Sol stepped outside to talk. Sharone sat on a couch, and Sol stood beside her with his arms folded.

"Things are really serious, huh?" Sol said, glancing through the open door. "I saw smoke in the distance, but I thought it was you guys up to your normal shenanigans."

"Over the course of a few months, Kojo made it a point to enhance this city's standing and make it better, and these lowlifes have the audacity to attack. I'll make sure they pay for their actions," Sharone said seriously.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's being too serious. I get it, you're right in love with the guy, but get a grip, your intrusive thoughts are leaking," Sol said teasingly.

"So. What brought you all the way here?" Sharone asked.

"Right to business, eh?" He smiled.

"I went to the Dead Sea," Sol said, becoming more serious.

"The Dead Sea?"

"Yes. My informant told me that there was strange activity. Large movements of Maajin and fishermen going and not coming back. There was only one who managed to return, and he wasn't in good shape. He passed a few hours after he made it back to shore. Before his demise, he said he saw a castle in the middle of a storm with demons swarming around it, so I went to investigate. Those two over there," he pointed at Arin, who was having a talk with Lin and Koniko, and Jaro, who was talking with Mord and Mal.

"They were part of my expedition. As you can see from their bruises, a battle ensued."

"So it's confirmed. The Demon Lord is in the Dead Sea. All we need to do is mobilize a force to—" Sharone began, but was cut off by Sol.

"We can't do that. The ruined castle isn't in the Dead Sea. The storm itself is like a portal to a separate realm where the Castle is. I was able to confirm certain things. The storm sorts and destroys things based on magic. Anything that has traces of curse magic is allowed to cross over into that realm. We were able to temporarily warp there because of the Maajin corpses on our ship."

"What about the fishermen?" Sharone asked.

"He most likely was present when the gate was being opened to that realm. Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Sol said with a shrug.

"Did you suffer any casualties?" Sharone asked.

"A handful of the crew lost their lives. The rest sustained varying degrees of injuries. They'll be back in action before long."

"And those who lost their lives?"

"We told their families that they lost their lives to bandits while transporting some goods and compensated them." Sharone glanced at him. His face was expressionless, but his grip on his hand was tight.

"They knew what the job entailed when they signed up. All that we can do for them is pay back the bastards that sent them to the other side."

Sharone smiled faintly.

"Yes, I guess you're right."

"Now that we know that Demon Lord Minatori is alive, we need to locate Dona Crymson and see if we can convince her to lend us her power."

Sharone was stunned. The truth about the demon lords was something only she and the others knew. It wasn't discussed within the brass of Tsukikage. How'd he know?

Wait. He seemingly doesn't know everything about the story.

"Um, we already met with Dona," Sharone said, looking to see his reaction.

"Oh, where is she?" Sol asked, turning to look at her.

Sharone pointed at the red-haired girl sitting on Kojo's lap.

"This joke isn't funny," Sol said in a disappointed tone.

"Wish it were a joke," Sharone replied.

Sol realized she was serious.

"How do you expect me to believe that that little girl is a being capable of ending all that is? I mean, look at how she's sitting on Kojo's lap casually petting that rabbit. Where's her pride as a demon lord?"

He looked back at the open door, and his gaze met Dona's, her crimson eyes piercing his very being as if boring a hole into his soul.

Before Sol realized it, he had collapsed on all fours and was clutching his chest. His heartbeat thumping in his ears and a cold sweat all over his body.

He looked back at her, but Dona was talking with Kojo, smiling innocently like she was a normal girl.

Sol calmed down and took a deep breath, standing up.

"Well, that was unsightly," he said, wiping his face with a towel from his pocket. A maid was passing by with glasses of juice for the gathered people. Sol stopped her and took one.

"See, I told you," Sharone said, taking a cup of tea.

"But you did... you tamed... no, how did you even meet her?" he asked, taking a sip.

"Well, Kojo was the one who summoned her," Sharone said.

Sol choked and spat out the juice.

"Wait, so you mean he's the source of all this?"

Sharone didn't answer but instead took a sip of tea.

"It's more complicated than that," she responded.

"How complicated? Was it not by his power that two beings were summoned into this plane?"

"Well, yes."

"Then it's 100% his fault," Sol said, drinking all the juice in one gulp and putting the glass in the tray of the maid who was passing by.

He sat next to Sharone. There was a moment of silence as Sharone slowly sipped her tea.

"So, care to explain?" he said.

"I'll tell you everything, but not right now. Right now, we have to deal with the threat of the goblins and do away with all loose ends. And once you're here, you're going to help us," she said. Sol sighed.

"This is crap." He got to his feet.

"Yes, ma'am," he said more seriously, beating his chest with his right hand.