Allen's party left the S Rank Dungeon and arrived at Latash's capital.
The next morning they woke up early in one of the palace's rooms.
"It's morning already."
Allen comfortably rubbed his face on his pillow, which had a herbal scent.
Those herbs likely had some relaxing properties to make one sleep better.
He only did that for a few seconds, and then opened his Grimoire and went back to Creating, Growing, and Deleting repeatedly.
He was in the habit of spending Mana with Skills all day long, even when traveling or eating.
Doing that had become far easier after he obtained the Mana Recovery Ring when he was in the Academy. That way he obtained Skill Experience continuously for 15 hours every day.
If there was nothing to do, that could go up to 19 hours in a day.
Now he had two Mana Recovery Rings, two Sacred Beads that regenerated Mana, and the Fish S summon's Blessing, which gave him 5% Mana regeneration every second.
His Mana reached over 50000 at its maximum, so he could gather Skill Experience at a high rate. He wanted to utilize that speed and bring Growth to Skill Level 9 as soon as possible.
Having stronger summons was necessary for his future battles.
Knock knock
"Master Allen, are you awake? I've brought you some tea. May I enter?"
"Come in."
Someone had been waiting at the door until Allen woke up.
A woman entered the room, wearing an apron and pushing a little cart.
Rattle rattle
"Have you read so many books already?"
She spoke as she placed the teapot and cup on Allen's desk.
"Ah, I'm sorry for making such a mess. I'll tidy up in a moment."
"Please don't worry about that, organizing your desk is also part of my duties."
The woman started reorganizing the books Allen had left strewn about.
"Still, thank you for listening to my sudden requests."
Allen joined her, and together they placed the 30 or so books on a shelf.
"Don't mention it, I found all of them here in the capital. Did you read all of them already?"
"I'm looking for something specific so I only skimmed through most of them, but they were really interesting. And the capital you say? Not just the palace?"
"Yes. As you wished to read legends and myths of the entire world, I perused not only the royal library, but various other places."
Allen had made the request as soon as he returned from the S Rank Dungeon last night.
Allen's next destination was the Dragon God's village.
The Gate of Judgement leading to the Divine Realm was there.
Considering what could happen there, Allen wanted to know everything he could about Gods.
He remembered his first online games, which he played without any guides and always ended up playing tank characters. Now he believed that it was best to know all the information he could obtain.
He had made the request for such books the same night he got them, and now he wondered just how many people had worked to make that happen. There were even books from the church and theology institutes.
(I guess that explains why some of them arrived after the others.)
Underneath the covers of each book were the initials of the library they came from.
"I'll bring you breakfast shortly."
Breakfast would be served after the early morning tea.
Looking out the window Allen saw the it was fully bright outside now.
He had spent the night in a luxurious room, but he was more interested in the books.
Even now he kept the Grimoire open and continued cycling through his Skills.
(There's no sun god, and the god that carried the light of day vanished.)
There were plenty of myths and legends in this world, many involving Gods.
Some of them were similar to stories Allen had heard in his past life.
Since the Gods interacted with people here, some were direct accounts and not just hearsay.
There were legends involving Gods.
Allen had gone to see the edge of the world.
The world was shaped like a square supported by the God Gaia.
Daylight appeared on the east and set on the west.
At night, stars like twinkling gems adorned the sky.
There were times when their light had helped him and Cecile get back home.
The people there would not refer to it as sunlight, but instead called it daylight.
But at night it was still the star's light, or sometimes night light.
There was no sun, but there were stars.
A Sun God was common in Allen's past world, but it did not exist here.
But he found out there was a similar deity through the books he read.
Something similar to the sun would periodically draw an arc through the sky and give light.
The creator of that light was known as the Goddess of Light Amante.
She had created the daylight and stars way back before Merus was born.
Those lights continued shining periodically until today.
But the book mentioned that Amante had vanished long ago.
It was written that she was hiding somewhere in the Divine Realm.
Allen had asked Merus about it, and he said he never met her either.
(I guess the Divine Realm is quite large. Or maybe there's just no one looking for her.)
That all happened even before Merus was born, but she had not been found yet.
Allen checked the book again to make sure he had not misread something and closed it.
He was still drinking tea when breakfast was brought.
"Master Allen, breakfast is ready. May I come in?"
"Please do."
She seemed to be even more determined to serve Allen than earlier.
(I wonder why she sounds so desperate? I don't even see the king as an enemy anymore.)
It was quite a luxurious meal, and Allen started to eat.
There had to be a reason why the palace was tending to him so carefully.
It had been almost 50 years since the Five Continents' Alliance was founded.
This was the first time they were gathering in Latash.
It was being held there now because of Allen and the current king's faction.
Inbuel had always been in the monarchy faction, which preferred to strengthen the nation and economy rather than supporting the alliance.
The scholar faction believed that it was better to collaborate with the alliance.
The past king had been with the scholars, but once he passed away, all the nobles in the monarchy faction rallied behind Inbuel as he ascended to the throne.
Latash was a smaller and weaker country, so the king did not like helping the alliance much.
But that alone was not much of an issue, there were many countries not enlisted in the alliance.
That included the Dragon God's Village.
There had never been an issue until Allen started building his army.
Allen had become famous as the first S Rank adventurer in 20 years, and the first person to clear the S Rank Dungeon. On top of that, he had enlisted the help of the pope apprentice Kiel, and Sophie who was known as a future queen.
On top of that, someone related to Allen's party was said to have a relationship with Inbuel's daughter. Their father had been a baron for a long time, but now had become a duke.
'What is Latash trying to accomplish by building such a powerful army? Latash will fight alongside us against the Demon King's Army, right?'
The meeting was being held to answer those questions.
The most suspicious part was that Latash always refused to help, but was getting an army now.
The more than a 100 members of the alliance would gather to get answers from Latash's king.
"..."
"Is something troubling you?"
The woman tending to Allen noticed he was thinking about something.
She was clearly putting an effort into making Allen feel comfortable.
"It's nothing, don't worry. I'll be heading to the waiting room once I'm done eating."
"Understood, I'll take you there. Please enjoy your meal first though."
He asked for the schedule again, and was told the meeting would start at 9am.
Allen's entire party would be taking part from the start this time.
Allen had no involvement with the alliance or their goals, so he did not like being there, but he had to resign himself to spending all the Mana he could until he was done with the meeting.
After eating, Allen went to the waiting room, where the rest of his party already was.
(I guess Rosalina and Ignomas are doing their own thing.)
The two mermen members were missing, but everyone else was there.
"Good morning Helmios. Thank you for conducting that investigation."
"Don't mention it."
Allen had already thanked him through a magic device, but he did it again in person.
Rosetta had been staring at Allen, telling him to do that.
"I hope things don't get wild during the meeting."
Allen also nodded to Rosetta before talking with Helmios again.
"We don't have any evidence about the past emperor being the Demon King, so the emperor decided to overlook the matter during this meeting. It could end up splitting the alliance after all."
"I see."
"So please keep quiet about it too, Allen."
"Well…alright."
(I guess that's good blackmail against the emperor then. It might come in use eventually.)
Allen was told to keep quiet about it, so he decided to do so for now.
Telling people that the Demon King was Giamut's past emperor would only create unrest.
There was nothing to gain from it, so keeping quiet seemed like the best idea for now.
"Seriously, I mean it. Keep quiet Allen."
Helmios knew what Allen's smirk meant.
Allen agreed again, and then switched topics.
Training the Hero's Army was also part of Allen's duties.
They did that for a while and eventually things were ready.
A servant called them and they were brought to the hall with the meeting.
There were many tables and seats there, populated by the members of the alliance.
They were the leaders of the alliance, the enlisted countries' representatives, and people from the guild. There were also some people from the church.
The hero's party and Allen's party were also given a table.
Latash's people had their own table, as they were the organizers of the meeting this time.
Thomas' friend Princess Leirana also sat there quietly.
As soon as Allen's party sat down, Giamut's emperor spoke.
"Inbuel, is everyone here?"
"Let me verify that for you."
As Giamut's emperor commandeered him, Imbuel quickly went to ask the servant in charge.
"Don't delay too much. If you want the chances of more meetings happening here to increase, that is."
"Hohoh, don't be too harsh on him now."
Baukis' plump emperor called out Giamut's emperor's attitude.
"I know."
He answered, without really sounding like he reflected on his tone.
The servant eventually whispered something onto Latash's prime minister's ear, who then did the same to the king.
"It seems everyone is ready. Everyone please sit down."
Everyone who was attending had arrived.
"This will be a meeting for the history books."
Rosenheim's Queen Lenoateal said while narrowing her eyes a little.
Allen was not a mere guest to the meeting this time, he was a main attendee.
A servant went to call him.
Allen was waiting, constantly spending Mana with his Grimoire.
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The ground trembled a bit and everyone looked around wondering what that was.
Some even looked worrying at what could be coming.
That marked the start of the Five Continents' Alliance meeting.
