Daimon walked towards the tent where the girls were staying, apparently, they had already chosen what they wanted from the pile of treasures, the rest was kept by Jasmie in a ring which she handed to Daimon when she saw him.
Daimon accepted the ring and sent it to the inventory without even looking at the contents, those treasures were quite decent, there were even few peak Arch ranked ones, in fact they would be rarities in Kerrol, because they weren't beast equipment, but the kind of treasures found at the four galaxies or Neptune, meaning they had arrays engraved on them.
However, behind their shine and refined designs, they were ultimately created for anyone with the respective affinity of which the materials used to create them, so they were generic, which meant they didn't have uses for the people inside of this tent, who all used personalized equipment.
In case you wonder why all the girls looked happy, the answer is simple, though temporarily generic, they can be alter modified to fit their needs, and apparently everyone had a lucky find among the pile of treasures.
"I guess this confirms the fact that the owner of the ruin, was working with the flesh eating… Ghouls, was it?", said Emily as she observed the black metal belt in her hands.
Daimon was first a bit confused about what she meant, but then he realized Emily thought those treasures were specifically prepared for Ghouls, since they had arrays instead of a beast core embedded into them.
Though he had explained his origins, he didn't divagate to culture and similar things, he did tell them that compared to Kerrol, the four galaxies and Neptune were more advanced.
"I didn't mention it, but of all the places I know, the standard for magic treasures is using arrays, though the Ghouls are quite outdated from my point of view, those are arrays", he said.
"Oh, so that's why you wanted those blueprints", said Reyne, which made Daimon chuckle.
"Anyway, take a short rest and adjust to your better state, we have to meet the old man and the others in thirty minutes", he said.
"Mm", with a low affirming sound, those three moved to their own beds, with were placed at the other side of the tent and laid down, as they checked on their weapons and equipment, to see if there was anything that needed to be replaced, it wouldn't be funny if one's weapon breaks midway an important battle, so this is a good practice for any mage or knight.
Jasmine and Sarah on the other hand, stared at Daimon, they had become used to stay in a spacious bed along with him, but this time each all had individual sized ones, Daimon noticed that they were clearly expecting him to give the greenlight, which made him bitterly smile.
"You can put them together if you want to, but I'll be meditating, so you'll have to keep it quiet", he hadn't even finished speaking, when those two got up and pushed their beds together, to make a larger one, that being said each one stayed in their own space.
The previous of course caught Reyne's attention, but after gazing at them for a couple of seconds, she turned her head away and continued checking on her equipment.
Daimon inwardly sighed and then closed his eyes, unlike the fake notifications that appeared "physically" and could be seen by Sarah somehow, the notifications from the system could both appear in front of him, or seen inside his mind thanks to the log of the log of the system.
[Congratulations on obtaining the Promise level treasure "Trident of the Storm"]
[Trident of the Storm: An ancient weapon that is granted only to heroes that share a connection to the sea]
[Permanent Characteristics:
[Promise: The weapon will adapt to the user and grow with it (If it changes ownership, any previously gained characteristics will be reset]
[Sea Favor: Any lineage related to wind and water will receive a 10% boost, when wielding it]
[Sea Enhance: Attacks involving water or wind will produce 10% more damage, at the same time, any attack with said elements will produce 10% less damage]
[Personal abilities: None (please refine the trident with your energy and blood to activate promise, the process might take time depending on the user)]
As soon as Daimon finished reading the log, he looked at the inventory where the trident was, and put on a contemplative expression.
The thing was honestly amazing, for starters this magic weapon came from a system shop, because only those items had detailed explanations like that, for "foreign" items, he only got a small description and that was thanks to his infinity eyes, according to Evangeline, he had to become a "Master Appraiser" to be able to get a detailed explanation like the ones that the system provided for anything that came from it, or other systems.
And while he had easily obtained the fundamental knowledge of an appraiser, from the book he bought at the system shop, to advance he had to complete a mission to advance to "Novice Appraiser".
'Tsk, aren't those who reincarnated supposed to obtain the skill "Appraisal" as part of their starter pack', thought Daimon, as he remembered the classic set ups for games back at earth.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'Well, you are still better than others, since you are my host you know, others can't see the detailed descriptions of the items that aren't from their own shops, until their systems are on an equal or higher level than the one from which the item came, but you can ignore that', said Evangeline with a proudful voice.
'Yeah, our Eve is the best, let me guess only now I met the "requirements" to learn that systems have levels, was it because it's the first item from other system user I have gotten?', asked Daimon.
'Mm, wait until the next time you upgrade the system, I have some surprises for you~', answered Evangeline in a somewhat happy voice, though she likes to joke with him, whenever the restrictions of the system allowed her to give more information to Daimon, she immediately did.
It's worth mentioning that such a thing was up to the administrator, it was an optional kind of thing, the administrator could willingly help the host or limit to fulfill its obligations, which at most made it neutral towards the host.
Luckily, Daimon and Evangeline had gotten closer over the past eight years, so now they were friends, instead of just host and administrator, the difference could easily be seen, when compared to Adam and Marcus whose administrators weren't exactly fond of them.
Daimon then looked at the ongoing mission, he rushed to the ruin to reunite with Jasmine, since Adam was led there, then the prize for clearing it, wasn't going to be the legacy of the hero, which he needed for his mission.
Remember that he stole the major opportunity from Adam in what Neptune regarded, which was used to trigger his mission, so what Adam obtained was the next better opportunity.
'If the second-place prize was so broken, what will the big prize be like', he wondered.
The trident was "inactive" and yet it already had such incredibly good characteristics, and unlike Jasmine who was unable to obtain the benefits from the trident, Daimon could, despite him not being a hero type system user, probably Eve knew why, but she remained silent, so restrictions were in place.
Still, in Daimon's rough calculations, even inactive the trident gave a similar sensation to half Stellar rank magic weapons, and most importantly, the thing allowed Jasmine to bypass Adam's tricks and seriously wound him, while Sarah who had the bracelet of the god of mischief did trigger some kind of defensive measure.
Though the thirty minutes hadn't gone by yet, Daimon suddenly opened his eyes for three reasons, first, he had recovered his stamina almost completely, while his mana and battle aura were at its max, it was still "night" and the boosting effect was doing wonders for him and Sarah, though for some reason Jasmine wasn't affected by it.
The second reason was that he could feel those two were now stuck to him, he opened his eyes just to see both Jasmine and Sarah looking over his shoulders, the third reason was that a fake notification had been triggered.
[Complete the mission given by the guardian of Kerrol to go back from where you came, a penalty will be given if you refuse]
"Woah, is that the thing you mentioned, Sarah?", curiously asked Jasmine, turns out she could also see the fake notifications.
"Yup, though they look cool, and even give some interesting things, most of the times the messages are stupid", jokingly said the crazy girl, referring to the hero crap that the fake notifications tried to force Daimon to do.
Daimon could feel the dubitative gazes from Jeanne, Emily and Reyne, since they couldn't see the fake notifications, for them, it just liked like those two were flirting with him, well, Sarah's obvious intentions didn't help.
But before he could explain them what was happening, he received a message from old Ben.
"We have a problem, please come to the tent of leaders… and bring the others with you" the message was short, but Daimon could more or less what was happening, based on the fact that the fake notification wasn't triggered by him, which meant it was caused by Adam.
"That idiot is causing problems to us again, right?", asked the crazy girl, to which Daimon shook his head.
"No, independently of that, we can return if needed, so let's go see what they want", he said, unlike Adam he wasn't affected by the whims of the so called "guardian" of Kerrol, which was probably the black mantled figure.
The moment he reunited with Jasmine, Evangeline told him that just by wishing so, they could leave Kerrol, he hadn't done so, because they still have some time and he wants to obtain the legacy of the hero as it is part of his mission, his instincts told him that he was close, so he gave it a go.
Worst case scenario, he can always leave, and now that he has the white metal cross bow, the black mantled figure knows that it is futile to try and take away Daimon's teammates forcefully, which is why it hadn't tried to do it.
Naturally, that's the reason as to why the black mantled figure isn't trying, but Daimon isn't trusting the cross bow to save him, he now had learned how to prevent it, thanks to Will Manipulation, if they try to take away any of the girls, they'll stay together and go together, at least.
"That female Archduke which escaped from you, is at the tent where we are going", said Daimon, taking Jeanne and Emily by surprise, not only because their sworn enemy was at the human headquarter, but because Daimon was able to tell, while they didn't notice it.
Well, to be honest, Daimon didn't it notice first, it was Rita the one who told him, but since she was her young master's eyes and ears, it was the same, at least that's how she saw it, and that wasn't all… Adam was also there, they suddenly appeared outside of the headquarters, and asked to be allowed to enter to have a talk, according to Rita.
"Don't worry, whatever they try, we'll be fine", confidently said Daimon, to which those three nodded, while Sarah and Jasmine smiled, Daimon always brought them this sensation of easiness and safeness.
…
On their way to the tent where the leaders of humanity gathered, Daimon could clearly feel the gazes from the soldiers that were patrolling the area, and he more or less realized what was the problem mentioned by old Ben.
'Let's see what you've got', he thought as they arrived at the leader's tent, the guards tensed up when they saw Jeanne and Emily, but the voice of old Ben coming from inside the tent, made them ease up.
"Let them in".
The guards obeyed and stood aside, "allowing" Daimon's group to enter the tent, this tent was quite larger than the personal ones, there were guards all over the place, and there was a large table, in which the leaders of humanity were sitting.
Daimon could feel the murderous intent that Jeanne and Emily were radiating, the moment their eyes landed on the black haired woman that was standing at the other side of the tent.
And the feeling was reciprocated, as the woman's eyes got bloodshot, not only that, Jasmine and Sarah also glared at Adam with clear hostility, while Adam glared back,
The atmosphere inside the tent suddenly tensed up, so old Ben was forced to interfere.
"Ahem, say what you came to say, envoys from the flesh eating demons", he said.
Apparently, Adam was sent as an envoy by the black mantled figure, and Emily's aunt came to act as his bodyguard, Adam nodded at old Ben and then said.
"We came here to propose a temporal truce, as you already know, the Blood King who stands above all the flesh eating demons, has returned, and has proposed that for the next 100 years both sides don't fight each other, since I'm a human as well, I have spoken on behalf you and gotten the right to give you back some of the humans that were imprisoned in secret places, we'll give you a list with names and portraits for you to choose".
"The blood king is displeased by the way his descendants managed things during his absence and is willing to take a "trial test" to see if both races can coexist, depending on the result, 100 years from now, there is a chance for a permanent alliance to exist".
"In case you wonder about the difference in "diets" between the two races, as you heard directly from Cardinal Felix, the flesh eating demons will be capable of surviving exclusively on blood, now that the Blood King is back, so the two races can be at peace and even proper through the commerce of decent quality blood".
"The only thing the Blood King asks from you, is that you surrender the ones that had offended him, inside the ruin, namely those three", said Adam as he pointed at Daimon, Sarah and Jasmine, to then add.
"Here, a one time contact method, you have one hour to think about it, don't let this chance to finally end the war between the two races, slip from your hands", he said as he placed a communication device on the table, the woman glared at Emily and Jeanne to then take Adam who was giving Daimon a mocking gaze, away with her.
Antonio escorted them out from the human headquarters, to then return, naturally all the gazes now fell on Daimon's group, after a few seconds of hesitation, an Adjudicator from Antonio's side, spoke.
"What will we be doing, leaders…", the first one to talk, unleashed the chaos, as many started voicing their opinions.
"What's up with that suggestive tone, they want us to give up the one who wields the treasure that was passed down from the first Adjudicator, they are afraid of us!", said another guy.
"We can always retrieve the "key", did you not hear the conditions given, we'll be able to recuperate many people from the human farms, they will all be like first king, top call fighters, not to mention a truce of 100 years, in which we can finally restore the glory of humanity", said another guy, refuting the previous Adjudicator.
"My family recently lost on a battle and some of our young generations as well as my brother were captured, many here had gone through the same, we might be able to get our relatives back…", added a female Adjudicator.
"T-The first king sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity, anyone here will willingly do the same if it meant ending this war, it is only normal for the successor of the first king to show the same nobility", said another Adjudicator, this time from old Ben's side.
'Heh, that old man is quite upright, similar to Oliver, so this is why he asked me to bring those three as well', thought Daimon as he completely ignored the different comments.
Everyone here saw Jeanne and Emily's strength earlier, so while some were daring enough to voice their opinions, no one dared to make a move on their own, the only ones that could put Jeanne and Emily in danger, were the four old monsters, besides them, there were a few that were confident to clash head on with them, but not sure if they could win, among which there was Oliver and of course Dorothy.
"What the hell are we even arguing about, they aren't part of our order, but some selfish trashes that just arrived at out city, brought by that little…", before she could finish speaking, Antonio interrupted.
"That's enough Dorothy", but this time the woman didn't concede, she instead replied in a hysterical voice.
"YOU DIDN'T SEEK JUSTICE FOR ELLIOT'S DEATH, BECAUSE OF THE CODE, WELL THE CODE STATES THAT A SINGLE LIFE CAN'T GET IN THE WAY OF HUMANITY!", she shouted.
Old Ben who had remained silent until now, turned to see Daimon before saying.
"Could you please tell us, your opinion regarding the so called "offer" they made, since they claim that you offended the Blood King inside of the ruin".
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDaimon shrugged in response.
"I believe you know the answer already, you two had to join hands to resist against that guy, what do you think will happen if you give him a hundred years to recover", coldly said Daimon.
A sepulchral silence fell in the room, the others didn't know that, from their point of view, it was old Ben the one who stopped the Blood King, they were being too suppressed by Archbald's pressure to properly evaluate the situation back then.
Only the four old monsters knew the truth, well at least until a moment ago, since the cat was out of the bag now.
As expected, most of the guys who were voicing such "brave" opinions, were now pale, Dorothy saw that the wave she raised was dying miserably and she finally couldn't keep it together, she moved to draw her weapon out but her body froze before she let out a blood curling scream.
"Aghhhh!!!", the motive behind that scream, was her whole right arm being ripped apart from her body, and then her body being smacked against the ground, her head first.
Everyone reacted, after noticing that the "invisible" attacker wasn't stopping, Dorothy's head was being continuously smacked against the ground, creating the illusion that she was bowing towards Daimon as if to beg pardon.
Antonio and Oliver moved at the same time, while Oliver tried to make Dorothy stop before she cracked her own skull, the old knight who could "feel" from where the attack was coming appeared in front of Daimon.
The idea was just to demand him to stop, but when appeared there, his body froze, forcing him to release his battle aura, but even then, he was sent flying backwards and restrained by invisible threads midair.
All the other Adjudicators stood up from their chairs, just to freeze the next second as they felt something tightening around their necks, the people here were all veterans, despite their previous outburst, now that their lives were on the line, they immediately reacted by ceasing every movement, because they could tell that their heads would separate from their bodies if they tried anything.
Even Oliver was stopped from moving, and forced to see how Dorothy's face kept being banged against the floor, though at this point she was unrecognizable.
"It seems you are misunderstanding something, your battle is none of my concern, I have something I need to do here, after that I'll leave, if you get in my way, you'll be accompanying that idiot who came here to try and put you against me, in hell".
"I'll give you everything I have, she will never appear before you again, please… she is my last remaining family", said Antonio, his neck was bleeding since he wasn't allowed to talk, so the shadow threads created by Rita were tightened around it, cutting him.
It's worth mentioning that Rita didn't stop smacking Dorothy's head against the ground, luckily, she was a knight or she would have died at this point.
"Do you think she would have forgiven my life if the situation was reversed?", said Daimon, to which Antonio's body trembled as he remained silent.
"Me neither", said Daimon, but as he was about to order Rita to kill the woman, old Ben raised his hands and then said.
"If you let her live, all the Adjudicators at my disposition will aid you in your battle, I guess even you won't have it that easy to kill a few dozens of thousands of enemies… too fast, right?".
"Same here", said Antonio, getting the message from his old friend, to which Daimon snapped his fingers, only then Dorothy who had fainted a long time ago, was allowed to finally stop.
That being said, she wasn't left out of the hook so easily, her body retorted as a hole was ripped on her stomach, at the area below her navel.
"Aghhhh!", the pain actually woke her up, just in time for her to see her battle aura leaking out of her body, that attack cracked her magic core, and while it wasn't enough for her to die, she will soon stop being a knight.
"Deal", said Daimon as he stood up, the threads around all the present's necks, were removed and they were finally allowed to breath without the threat of dying.
"Don't forget, if you even think on doing something funny, I can kill you all with a snap of my fingers and you won't be able to do a thing", he said as he got up to leave, accompanied by the girls.
Old Ben helped Antonio get up and then they both looked at Dorothy and were surprised at the precision of the previous attack, she will 100% survive… as a normal human from now and onwards.
Which is understandable, Rita executed her young master's orders with utmost care, so since he asked her to not kill Dorothy, she perfectly did as she was asked.
"Sigh, why didn't you listen to me little girl… the one who you despised saved you once, it wasn't going to repeat", said Antonio as he gave his daughter a healing potion.
Surprisingly, through all the previous, the people from the church didn't move nor voice any opinion, until now at least.
"I guess we are even in the "screwing things over" counter, now, we'll also be participating in the battle, that girl saved our Claudia from Felix's attack, we owe them that at least", said the two of them.
Old Ben sighed as he helped Oliver who was sitting on the ground, with a blank expression on his face.
"We aren't even his enemies and ended up like this, I can't wait to see what will be the fate of the flesh eating demons who are actually his enemies", said the old man, making Oliver bitterly smile.