Supreme Monarch

—Taine Ze Region.

Somewhere in the south end of the Taine Ze region, a luxurious mansion that could be called a castle stood at the center of a small but prosperous town that had been built atop a hill in this desert region to provide a natural defense against most of the lesser beast in this area.

The supposed little town was surrounded by thick walls and defense towers as this was a border town to the various other regions in the demon continent.

However, as this was part of the region governed by the Brimstone family, there wouldn't be anyone foolish enough to invade from this direction. Of course, this was barren the involvement of unknown parties.

This place did not border any of the other Great Fives regions, so there was very little threat from them, and even if they tried to attack using the smaller regions as a distraction. The lord of this region had various contingencies in place.

This place was a border town that was close to the dangerous Valcrilm Desert, home to dangerous wilder beasts. It held trade routes to other regions and thus many Merchants and Hunters also frequent the town to hunt and trade such beasts on their way back to the cities.

This allowed the town to be prosperous without the aid of the family and as such, it held formidable defenses closer to that of a border city.

The guards that patrolled the town and defended the walls were all well trained by the lord of this land himself and thus their level was higher than most cities aside from the capital cities. Their equipment was also good and they could even defeat the top-ranking Hunters in the town with ease although they lacked the expertise to hunt in the wild and thus the Hunters were still valuable to the town.

♦️♦️♦️

By the edge of the balcony on the highest floor of the lord's Mansion. A middle-aged man clad in nothing but a luxurious white robe stood alone with a solemn expression on his face. His hands held a file made of a stack of pure white papers. A luxury item even for nobles in this world but his trembling hands suddenly squeezed the documents as he furrowed his brows.

,m Several complex emotions arose within him but he quickly suppressed them as now was not the time for such things. He sighed in slight agitation as he raised his head and looked up, a light drizzle began falling from the dark clouds which had covered the sky since this morning, as though they could no longer contain themselves anymore.

This was a rarity for a desert region like this even though this was happening during the dead of winter but that didn't seem to bother him as his mind was solely focused on the information he had just reviewed from his subordinate that had remained in the capital city with the main family.

According to the report, something strange had happened in the research fortress close to his town and even inside the limits of his personal land. He hadn't even been aware that there was one such center located in his own land. That hadn't even been the most surprising thing as it turned out the same said research fortress had suddenly disappeared after all forms of communication with the fortress were cut off.

That phrasing alone didn't make sense as the research facilities of the Brimstone family were all fortresses in the truest sense as they were all heavily protected so even if they were attacked by the other greats themselves or the primordial behemoths, it would be impossible for it to have been completely destroyed.

However, destroyed wasn't even the word that was used in the report as it said the entire building and everything within a 5-mile radius had disappeared without a trace.

He couldn't understand what the hell that meant. The specialized division headed by the lady Izabel had supposedly taken a target there for research when something had happened and she had been forced to withdraw with only the research data of the fortress. However, that was even more ludicrous as he was aware that Lady Citrus was with her.

She had even gone as far as to manipulate the events so she would be included in that mission for an unknown reason and he had been a pawn in her plans. So why would she retreat without even confirming the identity of whoever it was that had managed to invade the castle.

'Had she already achieved her objective and deemed sticking around no longer worth it or did she really do all that because she was bored and wanted to spend more time with her little sister?' That idea couldn't compute in his mind.

That lady was a monster that had secretly surpassed even the elders and not even the demon lord was aware of her true power so it didn't make sense for the fortress to be destroyed in her presence.

However, he could not be aware that she had chosen to retreat simply because she was that strong and could comprehend the divine.

He scratched his currently unkempt hair as he pondered the report with a perplexed expression. There was a chance she had also chosen to retreat simply because she didn't want her actual abilities to reveal but that still spoke highly of the enemy that she considered powerful enough to expose her.

"Damn it! What the hell happened there."

The report he had received was vague and inconsistent so it was hard for him to Visualize the entire picture without the missing pieces. It was currently winter so all the Elders and Nobles with land of their own would be in Their respectful lands unless something urgent were to arise so going back to the capital now to investigate the matter himself would attract unwanted attention.

However, that may be his only option at this point. Still, to manage the issue as discreetly as possible, It would seem he would have to go through the proper channels. As a demon marquis. He would usually spend most of the year in the capital city, Sun city— managing the matters with the various divisions of the family, and as such he was always ahead of the situation as the head of the information division but after the incident with lady Citrus.

He had chosen to retire back to his land to alleviate his mental fatigue and had delegated his duties to his assistants, but it would seem like that was a mistake. This lack of information was new to him and he felt irritated being left to stumble in the dark.

He would have to return back to the city immediately as he had a bad feeling about this and his intuition was never wrong. Whatever it was that was capable of leveling a highly fortified fortress without anyone being aware of it could not be underestimated and he needed to be wary of them.

He had an inkling this had something to do with that strange behemoth he had warned the family about as that was who the Lady Izabel was investigating but even this was beyond his expectations.

The possibility someone capable of this could join forces with another family because of their mishaps was terrifying. He needed to stop such a thing from happening no matter what.

"Hey Dear, what are you doing out there? it's raining. Please come in and dry off."

The soft voice of a lady suddenly called out to him as he was dragged out of his thoughts and turned around. l even though he was aware of the person that had spoken to him.

Standing by the entrance of his bedroom door was a beautiful middle-aged woman clad in only a luxurious sky blue robe with dripping wet black hair that flowed all the way to her lower back.

Marquis Aamon sighed tiredly as he gave up on his worries for now and walked back into the room to embrace his wife. She kissed him lightly as she gently patted his back.

"What's wrong, you've been distracted since that messenger came and now your back is doing that thing again."

"That thing? What's that?"

"It's always as stiff as a rock whenever you're obsessing over something, didn't you know?"

"How would I, but that's why I have you to notice such things right."

"Sigh... You even delegated your responsibility to me. Well whatever, you should get in the bath. Even if you don't get cold it's still not good to be in the rain so long. Such rains are unusual, to begin with."

"Indeed. Why don't you join me."

"Very funny. I was just in so no. It's already late so hurry up and join me in bed when you're done."

Aamon chuckled dryly at that response as he kissed his wife in the forehead as she walked over to the mirror and dried her hair with a magic item.

"Oh by the way. You got another message just now. Apparently, Elder Throx will be paying us a visit soon."

"Umm... is that so, how troublesome."

"Something wrong?"

"No it's nothing significant."

His wife only stared at him for a second before she return her attention to what she was doing.

Aamon thought the Elder must've been coming to investigate the fortress but that would only delay his return to the city which would keep him in the dark for much longer than he would like.

His thoughts soon drifted back to the strange behemoth as he thought of what he should do from here. If he really was the one to destroy that research lab then odds are he would be angry at the family and that would become even more troublesome in the future.

At this point, there was probably no chance of making peace with him in the name of the family so what could be done. Does he advise the demon lord to break the Great Five treaty and launch an all-out assault on the Darknar region in an attempt to eliminate him?

Or does he take matters into his own hand to redirect his attention somewhere else? Either option didn't seem easy but without all the information he could only come up with this.

In any case, he should do as much as he could in protecting his land and people, especially his children.

He entered the large bathroom and disrobed. The maid had already prepared his bath so all he needed to do was relax for now and let his future self worry about this issue.

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End of Vol 4: Empowerment

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So we've come to the end of the fourth volume. How truly surprised I am to have come this far. I didn't think I'd have the time and energy to write so many chapters for this book but thanks to all your support I did and I'm still eager to write more.

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