Allen left Ignomas' throne room, and headed back to the building lent to them near the palace.
Ignomas and Agiley were involved with Bek, but they did not seem to know where he went.
And they did not know where to find Sinorom either.
Neither of them seemed to know where Peromus was either, so there was little point in asking them more questions.
"So that's our current state. Are we going to fight the Demon King's Army now then?"
With Peromus gone, the situation had turned quite messy.
Allen returned to the building late at night, and explained the situation again to everyone.
Luck seemed to understand what Allen was thinking of doing next.
"Probably yes. Luck, think carefully if you want to join too or not."
Allen stood in the position of Commandant of Allen's Army, and he had already ordered the army to gather back in Heavy User Island, everyone getting ready to fight the Demon King's Army at any minute.
Helmios' Hero's Army also offered to help, and while they still did not know for sure what would happen, they were ready to strike as well.
'...'
"Mm, I know. I'll fight too."
The Spirit King Fabre looked at Luck worried, but Luck gently petted Fabre.
Allen had always told his friends to be ready for any of them to die eventually.
As friends, they cared for and protected each other, but the Demon King had been born a century before Allen, and had been planning the world's demise since then.
His Chief of Staff Kyubel was known as the Primordial Demon General, and had lived many times Merus' age, who was 100'000 years old himself.
With Kyubel and the Demon King planning the world's end together, Allen could not promise anyone they would be safe.
He would not abandon them, but he wanted them to understand how severe the stakes were.
Even then, Allen still looked for friends.
There was only one Demon King, but he had his army and was not fighting against the world alone.
The Demon King also seemed to be targeting the gods at the end of his conquest.
He was preparing for that, gathering minions, and planning everything.
The world was populated by all sorts of races, with all sorts of abilities. There were also all sorts of equipment, and materials of varying value.
Coming to Prostia had reminded Allen of that.
Allen widened his search radius to the entire breadth of the Prostia Empire.
As his search continued, the light of the crystal flowers dimmed.
The day was ending.
The next day was about to start, but Peromus still did not show up.
It was 7 in the morning, the event would start in two hours at 9.
One hour after that, at 10, the Fish A summon's Awakened Skill [Mimic] would wear off.
For Allen, that was the time Peromus would die.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to strike during the contest then."
(Is that really the best idea though?)
Allen felt unsure about his own decisions.
An annual event, which was regarded in an almost sacred way, was about to start in Prostia.
He would easily interrupt it for his friend.
But he still questioned whether that would yield any results.
Maybe all that would happen was that the event got interrupted.
Then again, he was willing to do anything for his friend.
"We'll just do what you want, Allen."
Luck sounded somewhat calm and decided.
High dark elves were only considered adults after they turned 50, but they were allowed to attend the elder meetings after 15.
Maybe Luck was already used to being around adults making hard decisions.
Stopping the event did not guarantee things would go well.
Instead, it could make all mermen turn against him, and maybe even incite the Sacred Fish Makris' anger.
Whoop
And then something happened.
A black book appeared in front of Allen.
"Hm?!"
"What happened Allen?"
"Huh? It says a demon has been defeated?"
"Huh?"
Allen noticed there was a new entry logged.
'1 Demon has been defeated. Gained 4200'000 EXP.'
It claimed a demon had been defeated.
Allen instantly checked all summons he had Shared vision with, checking which had defeated a demon.
Thanks to Allen's summons' Special Skills and Awakened Skills applied to his friends, if anyone defeated a demon, Allen would also gain some experience.
From his time in dungeons and Rosenheim, he knew there were no distance limitations.
But none of his summons seemed to be fighting a demon at that time.
'1 Demon has been defeated. Gained 4200'000 EXP.'
Another log claiming a demon had been defeated appeared.
(Did someone use a recovery item then? Wait, Peromus' Strength went down and just jumped up. Did he use a Heaven's Blessing?)
Allen noticed Peromus' Strength had changed slightly.
But it quickly recovered fully.
Everyone gathered around the Grimoire.
Luck stared at it with wonder.
After a few minutes, there were more entries logged in.
"Oh! It looks like a lot is happening!!"
"Yeah. I think Peromus is fighting against demons."
'1 Demon has been defeated. Gained 4200'000 EXP.'
'1 Demon has been defeated. Gained 4800'000 EXP.'
'1 Demon has been defeated. Gained 5400'000 EXP.'
Multiple logs came one after another, showing demons had been defeated.
Peromus had defeated dozens in just a short time.
"Peromus? Is he really able to do that?"
The elves in Allen's Army had helped Peromus Level Up.
He had used healing items, and fought a few times, but Luck had never seen Peromus charge at enemies like that.
Allen tried to use the information available to him to come up with a hypothesis.
The only explanation for the experience Allen received was that Peromus was fighting.
And it seemed like Peromus was fighting the Demon King's Army somewhere.
(Wait, could he really defeat demons though? Usually they start at A Rank and only go up.)
Was Peromus really able to defeat so many demons in such a short time?
There was an adamantite dagger in Peromus' magic tools bag.
He also had various recovery items, and plenty of equipment that raised his stats, so Allen began thinking of all the methods Peromus was using.
After thinking about it for a while, there was a new entry logged.
'1 High Demon has been defeated. Gained 36'000'000 EXP.'
A high demon was something similar to high elves amongst regular elves.
High demons were not as strong as S Rank monsters, but their stats were around 10000.
Allen's party had once fought a high demon named Glaster, who was roughly as strong as the White Dragon, and had taken a lot of effort to defeat.
They could even use Extra Skills.
It seemed impossible for Peromus to be able to do that alone.
Allen needed to figure out what was happening.
Slowly he started thinking of something.
"So what are we doing? Are we going to kill Ignomas?"
"...No, we might be able to do something else. Actually, it might be better to prepare for the Demon King's Army to try something."
After Peromus' disappearance, the Demon King's Army's involvement had been confirmed.
It felt weird to say they would just believe in Peromus, but there were other things that were better to prioritize.
"Okay."
Peromus was giving Allen enough time to think things through.
(I hope this was the right choice. Though I guess right isn't the best word to use.)
Allen still felt unsure on how to react, but he could not act recklessly either.
Even now, time kept ticking.
"Hey, you're late! You said you'd have it ready on time!!"
Rosalina, wearing beautiful attire, shouted at him.
"Yes, I know. I'm really sorry. Here, this is your pass."
Rosalina would be participating in the event.
She did not know anything about Peromus.
"Thanks. It's finally time then! The world will finally recognize Rosalina's beauty!!"
"Also, things might get messy later on."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's only been a short time since the insurrection."
"Hmmmm. Okay, thanks."
This was the first time the event was held after Ignomas took over the throne.
Allen did not know how much to say, so he just told her to be careful.
Allen figured it would be a good idea to watch from the audience.
After the event was over, there would be an unveiling ceremony, so Allen and Luck should have the magic device ready for showing then, but he still figured he could watch in the start.
The magic device had been loaded onto a small magic ship the day before, so it could be carried up the flower's style.
Ignomas had made Princess Rapsonile sit next to him, displaying his position to the other nobles seated there.
The participants also boarded a small magic ship, modified so half their bodies were visible from outside, and also carried up the flower's style.
[Songstress Contest Schedule]:
(1) 9:00 - Ignomas' opening speech
(2) 9:15 - Preliminary selection amongst the 1000 participants
(3) 10:00 - Selection amongst the top five
(4) 11:00 - Selection of the winner amongst the three finalists
(5) 12:00 - Announcement of Princess Rapsonile and Ignomas' marriage, unveiling of the magic device
(6) 13:00 - Closing ceremony, Makris returns to the ocean
(7) 14:00 - Celebratory party in all of Patlanta
The Sacred Fish Makris would be present from (2) to (4), crying as he watched.
The contest's first place winner would obtain three tears.
There would be various other side shows after that, and the event would end.
After the closing ceremony, the party would move to the entire city of Patlanta, where they would drink and sing until late at night.
That was a tradition that had been standing for nearly 300 years.
'Well then, it's finally time to start this year's Songstress Contest. Sit tight everyone, you'll soon be able to witness our Goddess of Water Aqua's Blessing!'
A voice rang through a megaphone magic device, and the event started.
A starfish-faced merman seemed to be the host of the event, standing in the center of the flower's style while talking into a magic device.
It was 9 in the morning, time for the event to start.
Everyone gathered atop the crystal flower's style.
Pop pop
Together with a popping sound, orbs of light began forming all around them.
They congealed into baseball sized spheres, they were crystal seeds.
The crystal seeds looked like bright bubbles, slowly rising in the water.
It would take a few hours for the tens of thousands of crystal seeds to rise to the sea's surface, and then another few hours for them to descend to the seabed again.
During normal years, those crystal seeds were sold each for one gold coin in Prostia.
It was an important source of income for the people of Patlanta.
According to their law, Prostia was the only empire allowed to manage crystal seeds.
Prostia's merchants would buy them from the state, and then had to sell them at much higher markups.
Depending on how many crystal seeds were produced, and Prostia's economy, the final prices could vary wildly.
(Peromus was looking for the missing crystal seeds when he vanished. I wonder where he is now.)
Looking at the glowing crystal seeds, Allen thought of Peromus.
Only one hour remained before the Awakened Skill [Mimic] wore off, and the mesmerizing sight continued.
'1 Demon has been defeated. Gained 4800'000 EXP.'
The Grimoire appeared in front of Allen again, showing another demon had been defeated.
Sometimes Peromus' Strength would decrease, but it would replenish almost instantly, showing he was fighting desperately.
He had likely been fighting that entire time.
Allen wanted to know if there was anything he could do.
He still wondered whether his current decision was the correct one.
While everyone stared at the fantastical sight of crystal seeds spawning, Allen continued questioning his own decisions.
As the crystal seeds floated up like bubbles, Allen noticed a change in the water current.
At the same time, there was a stir amongst the audience.
A large shadow of a fish was slowly approaching Patlanta from far away.
"So that's the Sacred Fish Makris."
Allen muttered in a low voice.
That was the protagonist of the picture book Cecile had made him read, back when he was still a servant.
The silhouette of an enormous fish circled around Patlanta as it got closer.
