There were still demons moving around, yet many processions of merchants could be seen moving. Mercenaries and adventurers were abundant as they worked to protect their employers from any enemies.
In one of these merchant processions, there was a little girl sitting atop a carriage with her legs swinging back and forth. She had a sweet little smile as she hummed while bobbing her head side to side, looking curiously at the landscape that passed around them. She had a dark ponytail with a frilly dress and a long heart shaped staff that she waved around in the air.
They were gradually passing the lands filled with greenery from the borders of the Mythical Phoenix Kingdom and stepping into a land filled with snow. When news of the victory and sudden agricultural boom were spread, the phoenix kingdom was the first one to send its people and merchants to the north, a command apparently coming from the top.
The beastman merchants following this particular procession all thought this girl was the daughter of one of them. She had a small furry tail coming out from behind as she cutely observed everything around her. Amidst her playful swings of the heart shaped staff and hums, a dangerous light could be seen passing through her eyes.
What these merchants thought to be the daughter of someone just playing around, was actually something much more dangerous. The girl happily taking a ride in the merchants that were heading for the Frozen Kingdom was a terrible figure that could massacre all of the people around her without batting an eye.
On the concept of caution, the demons were moving around carefully to find out exactly what had happened in the north. Their first piece to play was this little girl. She was the singular individual that had such perfect skills for reconnaissance and spying that even the strongest assassins would be ashamed in front of her.
Her battle power was not the highest, but she was the one to give the most trouble and often caused the downfall of many kingdoms and empires across the worlds that the demons conquered.
Her power laid in the two unique skills that she held, making her one of the more terrifying Demon Kings to hold something like this. But the universe was always fair, and not everything would be given to one being. Even though she held 2 unique skills, none of them were geared towards fighting.
This was the Demon King Orias of the 59th rank, holding the unique skills of {Spatial Travel} and {Shapeshifter}.
Her skills made her uniquely capable of moving around rapidly over large distances while also being able to become someone completely different. Through the usage of [Shapeshifter], her entire aura and being would be changed to the form she wanted without any mistakes or give-aways.
If she wanted to be a little girl, she would completely be a little girl. If she wanted to be a gallant knight in shining armor, nobody would be able to tell the wiser. This Demon King was actually one of the direct keys that caused the downfall of the Draconic Kingdom.
She had disguised herself as a powerful adventurer that gained many military exploits when the war against demons began, winning over the good favor and love of a Princess Knight that was fighting in the front lines.
To a Demon King that had lived for hundreds of years, how easy was it to play with the heart of a girl that was hundreds of years younger? It was a very thorough process that took some time, but she was able to bring the Princess Knight to her side and eventually use Abyss Magic from the hands of Belial, the master of illusions, to hatch a plot that took down the most powerful MYTHICAL beast of the Draconic Kingdom.
Now, this same girl was going towards the north, with the Frozen Kingdom as her goal. A twisted smile could occasionally be seen as she hummed and bobbed her head side to side. She knew the news of the unbelievable boom in agriculture that should in no way be possible, and the only thought in her mind was which character to play in order to gain the trust of the highest echelons and learn about all of their secrets.
Who was the being that had actually taken down Gremory, and did they have any hand in the huge moves the Frozen Kingdom was making right now? Her lips curved into the cutest smile as she thought of the mayhem she would cause in this kingdom.
Chapter 127 - Days of Peace
The past few days have been a scarce period of calmness that I rarely came across since the moment I awakened. I hadn't been getting an ounce of sleep as I trained my skills and moved around using [Budding Farmer] to cause explosive growths of the agricultural sector that would now be the biggest thing for the Frozen Kingdom.
I was surprised yet again by the fact that Adelaide had already begun sending words through merchant channels across the continent to begin for the sale and trading of the many products that continued to abundantly flood the kingdom.
They were all taken care of with the highest scrutiny as everything was calculated and stored, either to be sold in the Kingdom or for the oncoming caravans of merchants that could smell money in the air.
The citizens found themselves gaining a semblance of hope after the misery as the streets of Frozen Kingdom became lively once again. I remained in the Spiritual Land most of the time as I continued to increase the proficiency of my skills, while at the same time thinking about doing something that would be somewhat cruel.
I had the mindset to just start picking some rank A and S beasts in the Spiritual Land and using my authority as the owner of the Frozen Plateau to create a dungeon that would allow for me to farm skills for combinations later. But after reflecting and looking at all the benefits the beasts would bring in the long run, it outweighed the small boost in power I would have after collecting and combining a few rank A and S skills.
A majority of the EPIC beasts were weakened after I absorbed their origins during the trial of supremacy, and beasts at their level were one of the keys to upgrading the dungeon, so I wasn't planning on continuing to weaken them by stealing their origins.
If I began weakening the strength of the lower leveled beasts too, it would lead the overall same result and I would shoot myself in the foot as I need more beasts to rise through the ranks in order to upgrade the tier of the Spiritual Land. The benefits that would come from upgrading the Spiritual Land heavily outweighed gaining a few rank A or S skills when I've already begun getting legendary ones.
So the past few days were essentially a grinding session that never ended, constantly spamming my skills and learning more information about the Spiritual Land. The proficiency of my EPIC and LEGENDARY skills also continued to rise steadily. It was so tiring that I was actually looking forward to a very interesting enemy that should be approaching the kingdom very soon.
From the memories of Gremory on how the Rulers of the Demon World moved and thought, this event where one of them died would be taken very seriously, and someone they all had high trust in would be tasked with the important job of learning everything about the situation by coming here first.
I had a sense of slight excitement as I thought about the ways I could use these significant memories of the 56th ranked Demon King to plan so many things. It was hundreds of years of habits, likes, dislikes, and many secrets shared between high ranked demons. If I use them well enough, even with the terror of the power that the demons displayed, I stood a chance of gaining huge benefits.
Aside from the training of skills, I was able to witness the first harvest of produce in the Spiritual Land as the [Sacred Rye] was fully ready yesterday. The rye became an even brighter shade of blue and gold as they waved around proudly in the snowy fields. The spiritual land had a gorgeous transferring function that harvested all the ripened plants and placed the produce into neat rows in the underground layer that was freezing cold.
As soon as they were harvested, I used {Spiritual Land Management} to plant new ones on all of the fields as I checked out the [Sacred Rye] myself. I hadn't worked with something like this before, and had to reach out to Adelaide on how rye was prepared to become flour or fermented to become something else. I tried to enjoy the rye just as it was without any other prepared taste pervading my mouth as the world around me
seemed to become just a tad bit brighter. It seemed like they could even be enjoyed as they were without necessarily having to be processed.
The process was long, so I left all of it to the people that the Princess delegated as I transported a significant amount of the [Sacred Rye] towards heavily protected storage rooms that she specified. She had plans of using this grain that could only be planted in the Frozen Plateau Spiritual Land to make specialty products of bread and fermented drinks that would be a huge sensation and bring in a significant amount of money and cores into the kingdom.
Everything seemed to be on track for extreme growth, but I knew of the huge threats lurking in the dark that could bring everything down in an instant. I recalled the trap I had thoroughly concocted after spending a significant amount of time analyzing the memories from Gremory about one particular Demon King.
This was a particularly eccentric one, ranked 59th, Demon King Orias. She was a peculiar Demon King that enjoyed taking the identity of many different personas through the usage of her unique skill. Her usefulness was so high that the unprepared powerful beasts of the Draconic Kingdom fell with her help.
If the demons were to make any moves, she would be the first one. I smiled as I thought about this possibility, and I was more than 90% sure about it playing out this way. Based on all the memories I looked over, it would be even more alarming if something other than that was to occur.
I was actually in a war of information with some extremely scary and powerful individuals. They had no information about me or my abilities, while I had the memories of someone in their ranks that carried huge significance.
I knew about their unique skills and even more importantly, their personalities. Orias enjoyed playing many different personas, but she had the one important trait, and that is she always took the same form of these personas. Whether it was a gallant knight, a sickly old lady, or an innocent girl, she always changed into the same faces.
It would usually not be something that would be considered a weakness as anyone that ended up being around her was already dancing on her palm and would be dead soon enough, but it became a weakness if an enemy knew about it.
Besides her skill that allowed her to shapeshift, there was another particularly strong and peculiar one that made her extremely fearful. But it just so turned out that I had something that could completely take away the advantage of her powerful unique skill when the time came.
I had a daring smile as I continued to train my skills and prepare. If you do end up coming, which shape will you be taking, oh Demon King Orias?
Chapter 128 - Father and daughter
The Ill.u.s.trious King of the Frozen Kingdom was looking at an outstretched field of green in front of him. Many things seemed to be happening that he did not understand these past few days, with them bordering on the corner of miracles.
He was filled with regrets of not moving fast enough to quell the fears of his people after the battle finished, having used most of his time occupying himself with his son and mulling over the decision of just what to do with him.
These days, he found himself questioning if he still even had the qualifications to rule. AS these thoughts passed through his mind, the guards that were around him shifted as they felt movements, and they say the figure of the Ice Princess making her way over.
They quickly moved aside and put a distance between them and the two royalty, spreading across the field to watch at all vantage points. They were currently of King's Crown, which also had a few acres of fields set aside that were now glowing a vibrant green.
A father and a daughter stood amidst the peacefully waving produce in front of them as the daughter spoke first.
"How are you feeling?"
It was a fairly simple question that many people hear every day, but always carried a different connotation depending on who was asking it. The question from Adelaide seemed like a very simple one where it could be referring to the health or emotions that the aged king was feeling, but at the same time it seemed to be asking about even more important things.
"I feel...tired my daughter."
The king said this with as a sigh as he looked away at the miraculous sight of produce that rose overnight these past few days and looked at his daughter. He felt tired. Tired from the constant struggle of trying to stand out exceptionally in a world where they were a minor species that held less power.
Tired because they were in a time of war, and he was always advocating for peace. He felt a piece of himself breaking every time a soldier died that day. He felt tired when he came back home and saw the result of mourning and loss that he expected, but he could do nothing about it.
Yet, he still had to hold strong. Because if it wasn't him, who had the power to take the lead when the stronger enemies came once again?
When he got to this point he looked at his little girl who seemed to be growing up too fast. The shock her actions had caused did not just stump nobles and the common people these past few days, but they had shocked him even more. How had his daughter been able to do it?
"I know you're tired, Father. You've been working tirelessly for tens of years to bring all of us where we are now, and it was almost all undone in the span of a few days."
Adelaide walked across the field and stroked the [White Radishes] that were growing vibrantly and yet to be harvested.
"I know you're tired, Father, so I came to ask you to rest."
Roark looked lovingly at his daughter as a laugh escaped from his lips.
"Haha, are you that eager? You know that plans and calculations aren't the only things needed to get us back on track. Power is also one of them. If a single LEGENDARY or MYTHICAL being came, no plans would work in the face of that power."
A period of silence passed as the two family members thought before Adelaide released some shocking words.
"How do you think we were able to pass the trial of the LEGENDARY Demon King just last week?"
Shock ran through Roark as he heard this, his body trembling as he looked at his daughter incredulously.
"You're connected to them?! Who are they?"
Multiple questions came out as the daughter gave a calming smile to her father, a smile that wanted to do its best to reassure the increasing tension.
"They're people that are willing to help, but they do enjoy their privacy so I can't really say much about them."
"Haha, the world has not forsaken my kingdom just yet, good!"
The king seemed riled up as a semblance of his LEGENDARY power shot out, startling the nearby guards who couldn't hear a single thing about what the father and daughter were talking about in the fields.
"Hmm, they had a hand in the miraculous events with these fields too...but which Mythical Kingdom are they from...Have they finally decided to come down their high pedestals and offer a hand?"
The king was vigorously talking as he walked back and forth, his head fully trying to wrap his min around the new information before he sternly came to look to his daughter.
"You trust them?"
Roark looked questioningly at his daughter as he turned serious at this question. He didn't want to be duped into causing a colossal mess just because some individuals lent their power.
"I trust one of them, and he has control over all the others so there in nothing to worry about. To reassure you even more about how I was able to get in contact with them first, I'll let you in on something that even Mother chose to keep to herself."
What?!
The king was dumbfounded at the mention of his deceased wife, Annalise, and probingly looked for his daughter to continue.
"The reason my mother was of such help to you in the past, the reason this kingdom was able to be so smoothly established in its beginnings, was because of a unique skill my mother held."
Secrets that were only known between two people were now being shared.
"When she left us, she passed that unique skill down to me, warning me of an impending calamity that could be solved
through the use of this skill, {Golden Rule}."
Adelaide turned from the [White Radishes] she was stroking as she looked strongly at her father. Even when she was growing up, this secret had stayed with her. Now, it was being released because there was a need for it. It's usefulness had shown itself, and now it was needed to convince this very careful man.
"I have found the solution to that impending calamity through this skill. It has never before lied to mom, and it has never lied to me. That is why I am so confident when I ask that you to rest and leave everything else to me, Father. I want you to sit back and enjoy your time...as you watch the spectacular show about to play out in the future."
Roark felt the shock from all of these bombshells increasing as he looked at the woman in front of him. She wasn't his little girl anymore. He thought of his dear wife and recalled everything he had done well because of her words. If he had known his daughter had the same gift as her mother, would he have bothered even going to ask for advice from his ministers? He fondly looked at his daughter as he stroked her head.
"Silly child, why didn't you say so earlier. Kingship is it? I've been holding onto it for too long anyway. Come, let's get the preparations underway."
Chapter 129 - A little girl arrives in the North
A large number of carriages and people were standing in long lines behind the large fortress walls of the Frozen Kingdom. Merchants had brightly shining faces as their eyes settled on the kingdom that had boundless opportunities. Nobody in their right mind could explain the agricultural boom that had occurred, but as long as there were products, there would be people to buy and sell them.
Among the merchants, there was still the usual flow of refugees coming into the kingdom. Every single person was being checked thoroughly before entering, the guards being on the highest alert.
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