The next few minutes were basically a form of torture for Pandora. After the girl with the blood of a True Demon flowing in her veins gave her a confused glance, she left with the fairy, clearly uninterested in her existence.
After having been asked by Milia if everything was alright with her, Pandora managed to barely answer with a nod and forced herself to calm down her disoriented mind.
She was a King-ranked being. The one and only Queen of Envilya. Even though she was currently being overwhelmed by all the information she was getting one after another after just entering the outskirts of the tower, there was no reason for her to be feeling so helpless.
‘Calm down. Calm down. This is nothing.’
True Demons were part of the Invidia faction. So they could not enter into the territory of Luxuria without having the explicit permission of the Divine Beast of Lust, Asmodeus himself. The fact that a True Demon was present in this place meant that she was most likely a contracted partner.
She remembered that Sol had recently returned from the Astral Realm. It seemed like that girl had been the one he came back with after his journey in that realm.
‘But I thought it was supposed to be a black phoenix?’
Pandora's thoughts stopped there as she reached an absurd conclusion. But she could not accept it. There was just no way that something like that could be possible.
‘Sighhhhh. Take a deep breath. It doesn’t concern you…’
Yes. None of this ultimately mattered. Clearly, she had underestimated Sol’s influence.
Back in his day, Mars had been able to gather a group of very powerful and influential women by his side with his charm and charisma alone. Even Camelia, who did not really like Mars very much, was still willing to follow his orders.
But this… This was on a completely different level altogether.
Truly the Blesseds of Luxuria were of another level it seemed.
‘Okay. I am calm now. Nothing else can surprise me.’
Observing the changing expressions of the succubus queen, Milia had to force herself to hide the growing smile from peeking out of the corner of her lips.
Sol had sent her a message so she knew very well that this woman was neither the knight nor the princess of Envilya but the Queen herself.
Her mission had been clear from the start. Put her in a situation that would completely crush the queen’s mentality and make her understand the difference in power between the two parties. This was to establish the dominance of Lustburg in her mind.
In this way, any discussion they would have in the future would undoubtedly go in Sol’s favor and ultimately in the favor of Lustburg.
As for the possible leaks? They were not worried about that for a single bit. For starters, Pandora was indeed an old ally of Mars so they were sure that she would keep her mouth shut and even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t be a problem either way.
They were already ready to display Setsuna and Lilin as idols and war heroes to help increase the morale of the people of Lustburg.
The same would be applicable to Sol and most likely Isis too.
Some of the battle maids alongside the black knights were already dispatched to the temporary frontlines to prepare the fortress and provide food as well as get a better idea of the overall situation.
The war itself wouldn’t happen soon. But preparations were still necessary.
‘Speaking of that… I hope that girl is alright.’
Nuwa had insisted on being a part of those being sent to the frontlines. She was yet to enter the realm of a Duke, but her power was already impressive as is. Milia had accepted her request since she surmised that the small skirmishes already happening on the frontlines would be a very valuable experience for her.
Though it was a shame that she had missed Sol’s return to the Mortal Realm. After all, she had already been dispatched through the use of a teleporter long before his return.
“Well, my lady, should we continue the visit?”
“Haha. I think I will just go to my quarters if it isn’t a problem.”
“Of course. Then let’s continue.”
Pandora followed with a light smile on her lips. She had already steeled her mind. No matter what happened next, she would not be surprised.
—That resolution was quite literally shattered to innumerable pieces the moment she stepped inside the Tower and felt the gaze of a demigod on her.
Even though it was only for a mere instant and that demigod seemed to have lost all interest in her immediately, Pandora felt like years of her life were shaved away directly with just that one glance alone.
The fact that she didn't rush out running as if her life depended on it was already a testament to her strong will.
But what followed was simply too much.
She saw a drunkard whose power seemed to surpass her even with the slight power she was leaking from her body.
She passed by a woman clad entirely in pink sitting with a silver-haired woman clad in black.
She also finally met her friend Lilith, accompanied by Persephone.
Those fives were clearly discussing something important and while they didn't seem all that friendly, the fact that they were working together was indubitable.
Pandora nearly crumbled when she realized that the three other women outside of Persephone and Lilith were also King-ranked beings.
“Haha…”
In the Mortal Realm. Dukes were the highest powers one could normally reach even with great talent. Only a very rare minority could enter the fabled King rank. The fact that not even all the Blessed could enter the realm of a King was a testament to how hard it was to break through that limit.
As such, it was rare for the number of King-ranked beings in any generation to go beyond ten or so. Perhaps 20 at best.
But, right now?
Forget the impossibility of a Demigod. The Tower of Babel alone was holding five King-ranked individuals. No, if they also counted the one outside that would be six. It was equivalent to half or a quarter of all the King-ranked beings in existence officially known in the present times.
If there were no war regulations, this number alone was enough to crush most kingdoms within minutes.
All that power was held in the hand of just one man?
Pandora felt a chilling shiver crawl down her spine as goosebumps literally covered her skin from head to toe.
Was Sol preparing to reenact the actions of the Conqueror King? Or perhaps something even bigger?
Did Lustburg even need their help at all for the upcoming war?
No matter how powerful Sun Wukong was, it was impossible for that monkey alone to face 6 kings of such caliber. Even more so if Lilith was part of that team too.
So now was the question that she needed to ask herself.
Which side did she want to be on when Sol inevitably started to use his powers for his future goals?
‘It seems like I need to change my plans.’
She had made a very detailed speech for their future discussion. Analyzed the pros and cons of Lustburg and detailed what Envilya could bring to the table for them.
Now it was clear that all her plans were worthless and as good as literal trash in front of the behemoth that was Sol.
At the same time, Pandora realized why Sol had asked her to come to the tower. This was obviously a show of power from his side.
A way to put her in her place and make the negotiations more advantageous for him.
But… There was nothing she could do even if she was feeling unhappy about it.
This was a completely open scheme that was basically screaming at her that her opinion on the matter was worthless to them.
The difference in power was simply too great.
If she could find a way to have Sol intervene in the affairs of Envilya in a legitimate and proper way then….
‘Anastasia doesn’t have anyone she likes, right? What about Minerva?’
It seemed like it was time to think about the marriage of her two dear daughters.
———
(AN: If someone complains “This is a filler chapter!” I won’t be able to refute them haha. Still, I hope it brought some fun to the readers. Seeing all the important people around Sol from another perspective is interesting, I think.
It’s hard to write meaningful content every day. At least for me, this helped me relax a little and think more deeply about what I would do during Sol's meeting with the Goddesses. So time to go back to the more serious stuff. By the way, I asked this on Pa*treon already but I obviously need to ask this here as well.)
[So I have been thinking. Why not write a mini-series of the special chapter that would follow Sol from the Alternative timeline?
For example every end of a volume or a fixed number of chapters I could add chapters for the alternative timeline.
This would be a miniseries within the series.
I could also do a Past Kings series. Showing Mars, Neptune, and even Jupiter's life or small chapters for the life of the previous Kings and Queens.
All of this would help in developing the Lore of SHK.
Give me your opinion and of course, if you have another proposal don’t hesitate to write me in my Discord channel.
