"A-Appraise them?!" Ambil was surprised. "Would you really, your majesty?"
"Yes, I already said so." The King sighed. "I've heard you're the last member of a family of prestigious blacksmiths. I am looking forward to what you could make. If you seem to be promising, I MIGHT consider commissioning you to arm my knights. The quality of the other blacksmiths is good, but if yours is even better… Well, things might change."
"I-I will! I shall!" Ambil was filled with resolve like we've never seen him before.
"Is the King good at Appraising?" Acorn asked innocently.
"He is!" Camilla nodded happily. "My dear is the best Appraiser in the entire Kingdom. With his special ability [Sage Eyes] there's nothing that can escape him. He will deduce with 100% certainty if something is valuable or not. And his powers give him even more details than what us players can see from items."
"Eh?! He's that amazing?" Wondered Jenny. "I thought he was just a handsome blondie…"
"Hahah…" The King laughed a bit angrily but let that slide because she called him handsome. "Aside from my looks, dear slime girl, I am quite good at almost everything else. I am not a King without being strong. I am good at magic, swordsmanship, appraisal, and also at resource management. The Class I possess, [Luminous Kingdom's Ruler] gives me all of such benefits, necessary to both protect my country and my people."
"Father also has a special Class similar to that…" Brisingra whispered to me. "I guess he's right. My dad was very strong too!"
"I see…" I nodded. "Very well then, your majesty. Will you make this request to help you eliminate the cultists official? I also expect good rewards."
"I will." The King nodded. "And I shall also forgive your rudeness! Of course I would never forget rewards, Lady Planta. I know how greedy all of you Players tend to be… but can I blame you? I would ask for the same in your position. Aside from the emblems, there are additional rewards that had been left in the Adventurer Guild, you can go retrieve them and complete the Request of Cultist Elimination and Hidden Dungeon Clearing."
"So that's how it is." Angelina nodded, her bright eyes shining. "Thank you so much, your majesty… When should we begin operations then? We've got some clues about where their hiding places might be, but this is confidential information I would rather share in private."
"Indeed, tomorrow morning, as you bring me the weapons Ambil has made, we can discuss our next course of action." Said the King.
We've only been in this Kingdom for three days, yet we've already achieved so much! If possible, I want to eliminate the cult by the end of the week.
After all, there's little time until the Demon King of Death's resurrection. Only one week and a half left, in specific!
I've noticed that a month is already going to come to an end, but the Hourglass of Calamity time has been extended when the new update happened.
Did the gods intervene to make his resurrection even a big slower?
But even then, only a month after the previous one was slain, they really didn't give us a break. We've been moving from one place to another for almost a whole month.
I hope that the next Demon Kings take their sweet time to resurrect…
"Very well." I nodded. "As you may already know, the resurrection of the Demon King of Death is drawing very close, your majesty. The Hourglass of Calamity, given to me after I helped defeating the previous one, says that in a week and a half from now, the gates to the underworld will open."
"I see…" The King nodded. "So you are quite the big shots at the end. We are well aware of his resurrection, most of the Union between Nations are. But there's little we can do about it other than fend off his army of Undead as they come… Lady Planta, do you have any idea how to defeat him?" He asked a ridiculous question, but he did good in asking me.
"I've been traveling around the world and defeating his Death Generals. I do know that there's a way to get to the Underworld before the Gates open and defeat him before he resurrects." I said. "If we fight him while he's still sealed, his power will be much, much weaker… And it would be our only shot at making it out of this without drastic casualties like the previous Demon King provoked around the world with his Miasmic Beasts."
Just remembering all the utter chaos caused back in the Forest of Beginnings, how many innocent people died there, and how many others died around the world from his beasts… It is something I want to stop.
Especially because he's most likely aiming to go to Earth somehow too! I want to stop him before he can even fathom to do that.
"The Cult… from what we've found out, is related to the Demon King of Death…" Mark pointed out. "It wouldn't be an understatement to say they're cooperating. The defeat of this organization would also foil the Demon King of Death's plans…"
"So that's your plan." Camilla nodded. "To go to the Underworld itself… Fufu, you sure are amusing, Planta… everyone. We shall consider helping you once the cult is done with. But to be in time, we would need to capture and eliminate them in less than a week now, isn't it?"
"And we will." I said. "For now, let's leave the rest for our private meeting. The stares of the nobles put me a bit nervous…"
"Alright." The King nodded. "I never thought about things as deeply as you did, but you might be completely right in that regard… If we could ask for the Verdant Continent's Kingdom Alliance to unify as one and attack the Underworld to defeat the Demon King before his resurrection… then millions of innocent lives could be saved."
Despite his "higher than you" attitude that the King had going for him, he was someone truly noble, that cared about the lives of innocents, and found it was his responsibility to protect them.
"My father taught me what Noblesse Oblige meant, and since then I vowed to live by that code." He smiled. "Lady Planta, you have our full cooperation."
