"Hey, move it here."
"We're going to help with this area."
The people in the town were focusing on their tasks. There were a lot of logs gathered from the entire area, and a few of the house's skeletons had been built.
Douglas was the one supervising every single building. He was alone at this time, but it seemed that he would be fine for a while.
Noel and Anna were walking around the construction site.
"It seems that the city is going along nicely," said Anna while inspecting the buildings.
"Yeah. It's just…Protecting them is going to be tricky. We've bought about two or three months from everyone, but I'm sure that we'll be attacked very soon." Noel narrowed his eyes. He could imagine the destruction that the attack would bring.
After all, with their engagement, the enemies wouldn't treat them lightly anymore.
Anna truly thought that she had caused this trouble. But Noel had made her agree that she wouldn't think that way and never apologized because it was also his decision.
Even with a heavy heart, Anna said, "In that case, should we get a reinforcement?"
"Reinforcement, huh?" Noel thought for a moment. "No. Not yet. If we ask for reinforcement that easily, people will think that we're too weak. It's going to be bad for future negotiations. Instead, we will complete the academy as soon as possible. Even if the rest haven't been built, the academy has to be done."
"Oh?! Are you going to indirectly get the reinforcement from the academy? This way, we won't look too weak."
"Not really. The academy is required for the funds. After fending off the next attack, the people should be able to see that we're strong and have no problems in sending their talented people to us. However, it has another purpose. But I'm still not sure about it yet, so I'm not going to say it now."
Anna looked down. "The next attack would definitely come from the Supreme Devil Organization, right?"
"Yeah. But I'm sure that the Royal Family would be involved in it."
"Now that I think about it, our initial question about whether the Third Prince, the Royal Family, and the Supreme Devil Organization have been answered, right?"
"That's… true." Noel nodded. They had forgotten this question since, at first, they wanted to investigate all this by themselves, only to realize everything was connected once they were big enough to see the entire kingdom.
"With that thought in mind, why would we die together?"
Noel frowned. It was a core question. Why would Noel allow himself to be killed despite knowing everything? That might be the reason why Noel said she was naive.
Something was going on, but Anna couldn't think of anything.
Noel shook his head helplessly. "I don't know. I can't think of any reason why I want to die… After all, I can't reach my goal if I die."
Anna sighed. "Let's drop this matter. We should focus on how to fend off the attacks. The Supreme Devil Organization would definitely cause an outbreak."
"Yeah. To take us down, they're going to bring a lot of Superior Demons too. Is there any Ancient Demon in the mix?" Noel asked.
"Ancient Demon, huh…" Anna scratched the back of her head. "Nothing I know about. There shouldn't be one near our kingdom… if I'm not wrong. I'm not sure if they have sent an Ancient Demon to us or not."
"I see." Noel closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the past. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Still, we've experienced a lot of things, haven't we? In the past, we hid from an Advanced Level Demon. Do you recall that?"
"Yeah. I want to shut your mouth, but because of our position, I…" Anna paused, becoming embarrassed. She didn't notice it at that time, but she buried Noel's face on her breast to shut him up.
"Hoho, recalling that embarrassing moment now?" Noel smirked, teasing her.
"What do you think then?" Anna harrumphed while looking away.
Noel smiled but didn't answer. Instead, he continued, "In just a few years, look at us now. An Advanced Level Demon is not a threat anymore. Our opponents now are the Superior Demon, if not an Ancient Demon."
"Peak Level Demon, Superior Demon, Ancient Demon, and Demon King." Anna agreed. "An Ancient Demon is said to be equal to that of a Spirit Transcendence. However, the Ancient Demon is strong in both influence and power. While the Spirit Transcendence can fight against an Ancient Demon, they could only rally the army to fend off tens of thousands of demons along with a lot of Superior Demons. As for the Demon King, no one really has a depiction of its strength and influence."
"A Demon King, huh…" Noel looked at the sky. Surprisingly, Ardagan gave him a notification this time.
[A Demon King can destroy all four kingdoms at once. Your Ancestor became the greatest general after defeating a Demon King. Their battle caused massive destruction. A mountain was cut in a single swing; a hill turned into a crater in a single stomp.]
Noel widened his eyes in shock, not expecting Ardagan to tell about it personally. Still, Ardagan had accompanied his ancestors in the past, so it could be said that he was a living witness to what happened in the past.
However, the fact that his ancestor could cut a mountain with a single swing shocked him to the core. After becoming a Spirit Grandmaster, Noel could feel how strong he had become.
But he couldn't even imagine what it meant to cut a mountain.
'My ancestor was that strong?' Noel's body shook. He realized that the gap between him and his ancestor was so wide that he couldn't fathom.
Unexpectedly, Ardagan continued raising the bar.
[But his grandmother has been fending off numerous Demon Kings.]
Thud!
Noel's heart sank. If he was talking about the grandmother of his ancestor, it would be the original possessor of Ardagan. There were some records about her being the sister of the Spirit God, but he simply couldn't believe it because humans and spirits were not the same.
Noel fell into deep thought while Anna noticed the change in Noel.
"Noel? Noel?!" Anna shook his body, attempting to wake him up from the shock.
"Ah?!" Noel was startled and soon apologized. "Sorry, I was in deep thought earlier. There's actually a few things I want to ask…"
"Sure. I'll answer those questions to the best of my ability." Anna nodded.
"Before dying, what was our strength?"
"Our strength?" Anna fell silent, doubting this question. Since she had promised him, she had to give the correct answer. "About to reach Spirit Transcendence, but we were basically as strong as a new Spirit Transcendence due to our unique talents."
"As expected…" Noel let out a long sigh.
"Why? What's wrong?"
Noel couldn't answer her. Instead, he thought, 'Ardagan, why would you talk about a Demon King right now when you're normally silent? Is it because of your clairvoyance? Is it because you've predicted that there would be a Demon King coming in the future? Or is it a figure as strong as a Demon King?'
Ardagan didn't reply to him after giving that information.
Noel's expression couldn't help but darken. A lot of possibilities appeared in his mind, which was scarier than the last.
What if a Demon King was involved? What if the Supreme Devil himself had a way to control an Ancient Demon or even a Demon King? What if the reason why he died was so that he could become stronger to face those threats?
However, Noel couldn't help but feel strange about the third possibility. If he died so that he could become stronger, he would have used Old Ru's help on him.
If he regressed, he could become stronger than anyone else. With his brain, he could even use that knowledge to develop his own territory.
Yet, the past Noel actually left that opportunity to Anna, whom he called naive. She didn't even have a lot of information regarding the kingdoms.
He only got more questions than answers.
"Anna…" Noel looked at her in the eyes, his face becoming solemn.
"Yes?" Anna tilted her head in confusion.
"Do you know the key points of this territory? What have I done to this territory?"
"Hmm. There are a lot of things. In fact, one of them is in the nearby mountain. If we go to the other direction of the volcano, you could find a long natural cave with a mining vein in it."
Noel suddenly thought about something. He grabbed Anna's hands and said with a serious expression. "Let's have a date."
"D-date?!" Anna's body shook as her face reddened.
"We're going to tour all those areas. You'll tell me about everything. In exchange… when we return, I'll tell you about myself."
"!!!" Anna suddenly realized what he wanted to do, but she wondered if Noel was never embarrassed to say it this way. He might even get used to teasing her with all these sweet words that he couldn't change any more. She couldn't help but fight back, "Is that how you're going to invite your fiancee for a date?"
Noel was surprised at first but quickly corrected his words. He extended his hand and asked with a gentle tone. "Milady, would you give me the pleasure to bring you on a lovely date?"
"I'd love to." Anna smiled while taking Noel's hand.
But in that instant, Noel pulled Anna to his embrace before suddenly carrying her. "Then, without further ado…"
"W-wait!" Anna subconsciously raised her voice. "We're going to move a lot, so let me change into pants first!"
Since they were just strolling around the town earlier, Anna wore a short sundress, which made her look beautiful and sweet. However, it would be a different case if they were going to run a lot, since the clothes would be hard to move and might even be damaged.
However, Noel actually didn't care and carried her without hesitation. He even added, "You're lovely in that dress."
"You mean guy. You tricked me again! I shouldn't have dropped my guard even with our engagement."
