"What?"
Elisa wiped her hair. "You can't see him"
"…?" Valentine was confused. "Didn't you say he'd be my husband?"
Sigh… "Unfortunately, that's no longer possible"
"What do you mean?"
"Come sit, my child. A lot has happened in the past few weeks"
Sitting ever slowly, Valentine kept rapt attention to Elisa's words.
Having left in the middle of the Beast tide, Elisa narrated from there.
"A day after you left Gattiste, demons attacked, very strong ones. They…
From the initial attack to Ezra's escape using 'her' warp hole-which she didn't forget to emphasize-her contributions of calling the Emperor, Ezra's legendary battle, and then his subsequent misfortune.
Out of everything said, one thing stuck to her most.
"Ezra…is a grandmaster?"
"Apparently so, he awakened his potential during battle-or at least that's what he told me" she sipped hot tea.
"I went back to the scene of battle. It was devasted" she continued. "The few people able to witness the battle from afar without dying spread word, and now they're calling Ezra the Silver Demon"
"Silver Demon…" Valentine bit her lips. Reminiscing.
'Last time I saw him, I suspected that he was a Master, but…a grandmaster?'
It was beyond her imagination.
Her brain throbbed as her worldview was once again shattered, her heart pounded loudly.
'He's a grandmaster already'
'Can I still catch up?'
'Is that even possible?'
Despair threatened to fill her heart.
But…
'No, no, no' she shook her head vigorously, clearing her head.
'My goal was never to catch up to him. But to get as strong as fast as possible'
She nodded, steeling herself.
"I still need to see him"
Elisa raised a brow. "Did you hear all I said? He's now in Arcadia-you can't see him"
"Yes. I can" Valentine pointed. "You have to take me there"
Elisa placed her cup down. "Valentine, don't tell me you're smitten with that demon, are you?"
"What? No! Of course not!"
Elisa touched her chest, sighing heavily. Before glaring. "Then why do you want to see him so much?"
"It's like this…
Valentine explained her situation.
"Hmm, this is…tricky. Are you sure seeing him would cure you of those nightmares?"
"No, but it would help"
Scratching her hair, Elisa speaks. "I might not be able to-
Valentine lungs, clasping her mother's hand. "Please?"
After a fit of fake coughs, Elisa rubs, staring in her daughters pleasing eyes.
'How can I say no to that?'
After an intense stare down, Elisa sighs. "Fine, fine, I'll take you there"
Valentine beamed, catching her mom off guard with a hug. "Thank you!"
Elisa shook her head, experated, but the smile on her lips didn't fade.
"Actually, I was already scheduled to go to Arcadia today, so bringing you along should be simple enough, pack two days worth of clothing"
Valentine beamed. Hurriedly leaving
Seven figures sat at a round table made of diamond wood.
"I believe we should eradicate them as quickly as possible!"
Here were Mervida, Jebas, Getrahan, Raven, Deneris, Fredrick and the Emperor.
While Grandmasters were dubbed the most prestigious class as to their strength, what you had here was everything short of prestigious.
"We can't do that" Fredrick replied.
This meeting was to present a uniform decision onto what action should be taken against the demon worshippers.
A variety of opinions flodded the table.
Each person with their own ideas, overlapping and overwriting each other.
But when all ideas were categorised, it split into three main groups.
First, to attack as swiftly as possible, disregarding consequences to strike down the demon worshippers.
Second, wait for aid from their allies to bolster their strength and then launch a combined attack to wipe out the demon worshippers and all their affiliates.
Third, avoid confrontation for the short term and instead recover strength.
With voices flying around as the others bickered, the Emperor contemplated, smothering his beard, before raising his hand.
The voices died down.
Regardless of rank, the Emperor was to be accorded respect.
"I have come to a conclusion on the matter"
Beyond that, Niton was the Emperor's domain, his word was final-though they could choose not to follow it.
"One" he raised his index finger. "We will not be attacking aggressively in the near future"
The few supporting the idea were dismayed, but made no comment.
He continued. "Or rather, we cannot afford to. We have fought two wars consecutively, and either against humans or beasts, we triumphed" He paused. "The great war filled the Empire's coffers and the beast tide offered up massive material for growth"
"But the manpower used to gain these riches have not been replenished! Niton is overrun with women because too many men have been killed. The Empire will be in jeopardy if this continues" he leans into his seat, giving them three breaths of time to digest his words.
"We have gained more than enough from the past wars, now, we need to digest them before thinking of plunging ourselves into another war" The Emperor's gaze pervaded them. "Are we clear?"
Others nodded. Fredrick spoke. "How long shall that be?"
"Less than a decade"
Fredrick nodded, the answer was vague, but that simply meant that was just how much the Emperor could gauge it.
"We need better warriors now more than ever" the Emperor intoned. "So, I'm putting some measures in place. Outsiders (e.g anyone not Nitonian) beyond adept rank can apply to be integrated into Niton after having passed a resolution test"
"What?"
"That is blasphemous"
"You can't be serious"
Shock spread to the Grandmasters.
The Emperor's tone grew heavy. "I did not come here to amuse you"
Now they were even more shocked.
The Emperor was basically saying he would turn any outsider deemed worthy into a Nitonian.
They'd never heard of such a thing.
It was too absurd, too insane!
Citizenship was decided the day you were born, it wasn't an item to be granted at will.
Apparently the Emperor thought differently.
Fredrick held his chin. Unlike others, he wasn't even surprised.
Ezra gave sketches of a skyscraper before he was ten, very few things could beat that.
The Emperor continued. "That said, we must not leave the demons undisturbed."
They nod.
"I will contact our allies, we will attack them in concentrated small forces until we're ready to take them to out all at once"
Fredrick shook his head. "That won't do much"
These were five kingdoms. Combined, they matched Niton.
Small attacks wouldn't do much.
The Emperor clasped his hands together. Exhaling. "Do you have any suggestions then?"
Fredrick nodded, "Why don't we draft warriors from beyond Niton?"
The Emperor raised a brow. "Is there a problem with our warriors?"
"You might've not noticed, but I have.
They are tired of war, they've been fighting for almost a decade consecutively, these men are fatigued. Pushing them further won't help us" he locked eyes with the Emperor.
"Furthermore, most of them have accumulated enough riches to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. With their needs met, why would they want to risk their lives?"
"Hmm" the Emperor pondered. "Valid points, continue"
"As you said, they need to digest their gains, a man with a full stomach won't fight a beast for its meat"
"I see"
"Give them wine and women in abundance, then exclude them from the battlefield, this will help the population problem. We'll have others do the dying while our warriors dine in leisure"
The room was silent.
Even the Emperor had to admit.
'This plan is ingenious'
The thought of outsourcing troops wasn't a popular choice, but Fredrick's explanations were bringing more possibilities to mind.
"That said" Fredrick continued. "The hired warriors must be leashed, we can't have them causing more chaos, and also, we cannot allow them to take all the spoils"
They nodded vigorously.
"What do you suggest?"
Without realizing it, Fredrick had taken reins of the conversation.
"I suggest using mana contracts, but I'm no expert in these matters, the royal advisor is"
The Emperor nodded succinctly. Point taken.
Fredrick's advice stopped there.
"Well" Fredrick got up. "I will be taking my leave"
He wasn't much interested in helping them, because they were his enemies.
His advice was only to nudge them into the preferred direction.
"Wait" the Emperor called out.
"Hmm?"
"Fredrick, what do you intend to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"When will your forces join the attacks?"
"When will they recover from the effects of the previous wars?"
"Less than 4 years"
"That's too long"
"After eight years of war? I don't think so"
The Emperor's fist tightened, but his face didn't change in the slightest.
Infighting at this point wasn't helping anyone.
"Fine then"
With a nod, Fredrick exits, walking away, he reminisces on the current matters.
In terms of change, Black Jaws were at the forefront.
Ezra's foresight had Black Jaws place measures for the issues the Emperor was just addressing before the end of the great war could even be estimated.
Black Jaws were far ahead, they had already implemented the Emperor's ideas.
As to creating an army, Ezra naturally didn't limit himself to the edges of Lexon.
They'd infiltrated the other continents and stolen multiple talents from them in the past years.
This was one of the hidden purposes Black Jaws built a fleet of ships-to siphon resources from other continents.
The amount of money in their coffers could buy a lot of things.
But resources weren't infinite, and many of their former trade partners refused to sell to them anymore, citing scarcity as the cause-even though it hadn't stopped them before.
It was an excuse to stop them from growing out of control, though that already happened…
So, Black Jaws had to seek resources for advancement from elsewhere.
Funny enough, foreign powers were also wary of them, refusing trade with them at first glance.
Though not all of them.
It wasn't surprising, the sailors had already received orders on what to do.
Those who rejected him weren't given a second glance and they simply headed to the next person.
The names of those who rejected were jotted down. One must know his enemies to outsmart them.
If that wasn't enough, their ships were being visited by pirates soon after, a few were sunk.
Pulling a trick of their own, Black Jaws turned to bandits and dark guilds, using them as figureheads to loot these selfish powers.
With them unable to prove Black Jaws involvement in the matter, no action could be taken against them.
In this process, skilled prisoners left to rot were discovered and then recruited.
For the talent siphoning operation, the members entered with different names at different times in small groups to avoid attention, maintaining a low rate of activity.
The aim was to be low-key, maintaining an almost invisible presence while scouting out talents.
Moreover, all the members of the scouting groups were of Expert or lower ranks.
Few masters were deployed as leaders, those with special scouting capabilities.
Rather crowded cities, they concentrated their energy on travelling.
Their popular destinations being sparse villages and towns, places where anyone worth salt to their name wouldn't go.
One would be surprised what you'd find in these places.
Ezra knew this because a lot of warriors who rose in the time of the apocalypse came from sparse places, their existence previously unknown.
Over the years, this strategy saved them a lot of energy, money and time while netting them extraordinary individuals, many of whom lay hidden from the world-Ezra's orders.
Of course, the crowded cities weren't spared either, but the scouting wasn't aggressive.
They only took commoners, taking away someone who would be missed would lead to unforeseeable consequences.
Being discovered was the one thing that could not be allowed to happen.
Black Jaws was perpetually growing, but masked their external presence.
At the moment, they would wipe the floor with the royal army.
Of course, showcasing such strength was like tagging a kill me sign on one's forehead.
So, they lay in the darkness, perpetually improving.
According to Ezra, the time for their uprising was soon near.
Fredrick couldn't wait.
