"T-This is delicious…" Lily said, eating the skewered meat, then she tried out the meatballs, and the meatloaf, and then the noodles with tomato and meat sauce, with a bit of sprinkled goat cheese on top. "Woah! I can't believe I can eat everything I want without worrying about growing fat in this game!"
"It is one of the many benefits!" Laughed Titan.
"Yeah I love to eat until I'm going to explode, it really helps getting the anxiety away as well." Achlys said. "Sometimes I log into the game just to eat whatever Planta made and left for me in the Inventory."
"Well, now that we are all here together we would like to discuss what has happened there…" Said Titania.
"Yeah Lily, you said something about a guy or something?" I asked.
"O-Oh…" Lily quickly was reminded of that. "Yeah, there was this one guy, he had blue hair and red eyes. He came out of nowhere when the monsters showed up. He was able to control them with his weird dark magic powers. His name was Jeremias… something." Said Lily, trying to remember.
"What? Jeremias? That doesn't really ring any bells…" Titania said.
"Yeah, me neither…" The chief added.
Nobody here remembered anybody named like that.
"He said he came from a Kingdom or something… Luminous Kingdom? Something like that." Said Lily.
"Luminous Kingdom?!" We all asked at the same time.
That name certainly rang all the bells possible!
The Luminous Kingdom was the home Kingdom of the Mushroom Hero, and it is also the closest Kingdom to the Forest of Beginnings! It is an ancient Kingdom mostly ruled by Humans, who later on created the Continental Alliance to deal with the Demon King of Miasma.
They're supposedly good people? I think they helped the fairies in this forest? Also the hero later on became something like their greatest figure, and he sacrificed himself to kill the Demon King, protecting many. So it is very weird that there's a bad guy from there coming to mess with us.
"I remember… Nom… He said something about being an evil sorcerer or something… Nom… He was given revelation or enlightenment… nom…" Lilly said while eating a skewer of meat and other veggies grilled and sprinkled with some salt.
"Lily you can talk without having to be eating right?" I asked.
"But this Drakon meat is so tastyyyy!" Lily cried.
"Sigh, well, let's eat a bit more to refresh your memory." I said.
"Memorize."
FLASH!
Suddenly, Titania touched Lily's forehead, conjuring a spell named [Memorize].
"Oooh?!"
Lily's head suddenly shone brightly.
"Eh? Ah! I remember so well now!" She said.
"You can tell us more dear?" Titania asked gently.
"Yes, thanks for helping me remember… I've grown rather bad with memory as I've become older…" Lily sighed.
After that, Titania nodded, quickly touching her forehead again.
"Then let's do this. Oh Mind Spirits, I call for your aid, project the mind and memories of this humble girl for all of us to see: [Memory Projection]!"
FLAAAASH!
Suddenly, a pink light emerged from Lily's head, as her memories suddenly began to be projected!
A man covered in black cloak emerged before us, speaking as Lily asked him questions.
"W-Who are you?! Are you controlling these monsters?" Asked Lily desperately, slowly stepping back.
The man smiled, as his red eyes glowed brightly as if he were a vampire, but he was clearly a human, a very creepy guy if I said so myself. His blue hair reached up to his neck, and he seemed to have black and purple tattoos around his body.
"Who am I? Well, I shouldn't be telling this to a mere lowly creature such as you… But seeing how you're going to die; I don't see why not comply with your last wish." The man spoke viciously. "Lowly creature, you're in front of Jeremias Arc Crux, the greatest apprentice of the Ancient Wizard of the Luminous Kingdom. Due to my recent revelation, I've decided to come and conquer your damned forest!"
"The what… of what?!" Lily asked, feeling completely confused. I can relate to her confusion, totally.
However, the blue haired guy spoke pridefully, treating Lily really badly. He was an arrogant prick.
"Hmph, as if a being such as you could understand a single thing." He said with a smile. "The great Miasmic Core is pulsating with new life. This entire forest shall become the sacrifice to restore the Demon King of Miasma from his recent damage taken! Feel honored, you shall become the first of his victims!"
"Eh? D-Demon King?!" Lily wondered. "Are you his friend?"
"Friend? I am his servant! A Warlock that has channeled his divine power! I have been enlightened!" Laughed Jeremias. His name was rather simply for an evil sorcerer. "This morning he finally gave me an order, after years of silence!"
"Wait, we could talk things out, you don't really have to kill people, you know? This is just a game; can't you calm down? We could discuss things perhaps and-" Lily tried to talk things out, but Jeremias's cold red eyes didn't had any intention to listen to her.
"Kill her."
And then several Drakon appeared and… well, they attacked her.
The projection ended at that, as Lily didn't had any other memories from him- no, wait, it suddenly resumed somewhere else.
"Well, no matter! I'll leave you fighting my Drakon while I go elsewhere." Said Jeremias, as his body suddenly was enhanced with his darkness and miasma and then a snake appeared out of thin air, which he used to run away.
Apparently that's all of him. It seems he ran while he went elsewhere?! But where exactly? And what did he exactly wanted aside from just destroying things like a cliché villain?
"An apprentice from the Luminous Kingdom's Greatest Magician?" The Gnome Chief wondered.
"And apparently, he's also some sort of Warlock that has formed a contract with the Demon King of Miasma. He's doing as he was told, to destroy this forest…" Said Titania.
"He was formidable but he still ran away, he's pretty pathetic." Said Titan. "But maybe there's a reason behind why he didn't prioritized attacking Lily and getting into the village…"
"Maybe he's looking for something else?" I wondered. "After all if he wanted to destroy this forest, why not go for the surface? He simply continued moving underground…"
"Hmmm…" Titania began to think, as if she might had figured out something.
