Chapter 206: Chapter 65. The Attendees (1)
All the Archdukes of Devildom were going to attend the meeting.
I wanted to decorate the venue, the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, before they arrived. After all, they were the leaders of Devildom, and I wanted to transform this place as fancy as possible so that it would be deemed worthy to receive their presence. Furthermore, how this place would turn out would be linked to my status. I needed to keep up with a good reputation, which meant that I had to make it as flamboyant as possible.
I decided to have dwarves, Dwarf King, and Oswen decorate the observatory.
When Oswen showed up, he complained, “My lord, I am already laden with other tasks.”
“I know that.”
“In fact, I have other tasks that are much more important than this one. Didn’t you say that removing the curse on Higher Shila was the most important task? I need to make armor to reduce the effects of the curse, and it would take so much time to make such an armor…”
“I know that, too.”
“I had a brilliant idea, and I would like to test it. I believe that spending my time and effort on decorating a castle like this could be a waste of time…”
“Oswen.”
“Hmm…please forgive me. I went a bit too far. Of course, embellishing this castle is very important, too.”
Oswen seemed to be a bit emotional. He must have been struggling with the other tasks that I had assigned him, such as removing the curse of the dark elf.
Dark Elf Higher was Krithli’s mother and Jinma Dragon’s lover. The dark elf must have been killed by a very strong creature, and she was put under a powerful curse. It seemed that Oswen was struggling to get rid of the curse.
I could understand how he was so preoccupied with removing the curse, but he could use some break.
Of course, I could never fully understand what the blacksmith was going through, but taking a break once in a while had always helped me. In fact, taking occasional breaks whenever I was stuck on a problem rejuvenated me, enabling me to tackle the problem again with a different perspective and make informed decisions.
“Get it done in two days.”
“That sounds a bit too tight. I need at least 200 dwarves.”
The blacksmith made up his mind to work on this project, and his eyes were beaming with determination. Although Oswen was stuck on another task, he was a blacksmith after all, and blacksmiths loved building new things.
I nodded slightly.
“There are about 400 dwarves. Use them as you wish.”
“Then…I might be able to make it pretty luxurious.”
“Did you finish the task that I gave you a week ago?”
“Ah, yes, of course. I finished it a long time ago. I have exactly 200.”
I touched my chin, realizing that indeed I had given the blacksmith a lot of work. Unfortunately, he was the only person who could handle such a large workload. He was one of the most trustworthy workers that I had.
Oswen would be in my top two when it came to usefulness. The blacksmith did not kiss a*s, but I could not care less. When I evaluated someone, I only looked at their performance. Other trivial aspects, such as character, did not matter to me, so long as that individual did not rebel.
Even though the blacksmith was busy with the curse of Dark Elf Higher, I had given him another job. Despite the busy schedule, Oswen seemed to manage to complete the task.
“Install half of it in the castle.”
“Can I try to hide them as much as possible?”
“You know me well.”
“If I need anything else, I will talk to the fairy.”
“Sure.”
“Then…”
As soon as I approved of his plan, Oswen bowed and left to work on the task.
I had given him multiple chores, which would be a lot of work. However, I could not help but utilize him because he completed the assigned tasks so well. Furthermore, Oswen took his jobs seriously. Not only did he always bring me the best results, but also the blacksmith always did his best on every single assignment.
‘What is this mana?’ I thought.
I suddenly sensed a type of mana, which was flowing with the wind, and I looked towards the direction it was coming from. Not long after I noticed the mana, the origin of it landed next to me.
“This place is quite nice.”
It was one of the archdukes, whom I was very familiar with. The archduke had won the final battle in the previous life. She launched a critical blow with her sword on me, and she killed me.
“Ariel Diablo… You are too early.”
“Arriving before the designated time is an etiquette.”
“I have never heard such a thing before.”
Archdukes were demons, and no demon was on time. I had never expected that the archdukes I had invited would show up on time.
Of course, Ariel was the most special one out of all the archdukes. Although she was a demon, she had traits that no other demons had.
‘That was unexpected,’ I thought.
I was concerned about the task, which I had just assigned to Oswen. I told him to install what I had prepared in various places. If Ariel found out about my plan, it would definitely go wrong.
Ariel spoke confidently, spreading her chest, “My army will soon arrive. In the meantime, I want to take a look around this place.”
She wasn’t hostile at all. In fact, she was rather friendly to me and was curious about me. Perhaps the reason that she arrived early was to keep me in check.
However, I had so much to do, and I did not want the archduke tagging along with me.
‘I can’t send her back,’ I decided.
I only notified the archdukes to arrive at the venue by a certain time. Nowhere in the invitation did I tell them not to come early. In other words, I could not force her to leave and come again later.
I shrugged my shoulders and spoke to her, “You can take a look, only if you stay calm as a guest.”
She smiled and replied, “Ufa would not like that, but I’m not primitive like he is.”
The two were currently at war with each other, and it was no surprise that she made not-so-nice comments about Ufa. Although I was hindering their battles through Maxium, I pretended to be clueless about their war.
“I will set you up with a guide who can help you look around.”
“Other demons are way too inferior than I am. Don’t you want to go on a walk with me?”
“Lyhee!”
When I called out the fairy’s name, she appeared in front of me.
“Master, did you call me?”
“Give her a tour for me.”
“Who?” Lyhee turned and saw Ariel. “Ah! A demon!”
The fairy’s eyes widened, surprised. She quickly gathered her sword, armor, and shield. Only a Fairy Knight could possess such a set of armor and weapons. It seemed that Ariel Diablo found Lyhee and her armor interesting.
“You are one strange fairy.”
“Get away from my master, you bad demon!”
Lyhee, who was now ready for combat, charged at the archduke with her Gem Sword. Had she been a normal fairy, Lyhee could not have been able to attack Ariel Diablo. However, she could do physical damages, unlike other fairies. Unfortunately, her attempt was futile; Ariel shook her hands as though she was getting rid of flies.
Bang!
“Ah…”
Lyhee fell to the floor and started rubbing her forehead. Lyhee was guarded by the Dungeon Core, and she would not perish from such an attack.
“Hmm… Is there a way to improve a fairy’s level? It’s quite interesting.”
The archduke looked intrigued by the fact that Lyhee did not die from her attack. She seemed to be more focused on the fairy than she was on me.
“Lyhee, she is Ariel Diablo, an archduke. She is not our enemy at the moment, so please take her around.”
I emphasized the phrase “at the moment,” because she could be one at any time.
‘Try to show her the outskirts of the castle. Avoid showing her the internal parts,’ I instructed Lyhee telepathically.
Ariel Diablo had extremely sensitive eyes for almost everything, including armor and weapons. I was concerned that she might find that Oswen was installing something. Of course, I trusted Oswen and his ability to successfully carry out assignments, but it would not hurt to be a bit more careful.
Lyhee seemed puzzled, and she blinked her eyes multiple times.
“Yes, Master. Lyhee… Hmm… Lyhee is going to take that bad demon around.”
The fairy reluctantly stood up and soared. Then she shot a dirty look at the archduke and crossed her arms.
“Dear strange fairy, I am not a bad demon.”
“Well, you are. In fact, everyone except my master is a bad demon, and Lyhee knows it quite well.”
“You are just like your master.”
Ariel Diablo snickered and continued to speak, “Then I would like to take a look around with you.”
“Whatever!”
Then the fairy started to fly as fast as she could, causing the wind to blow.
“She sure is one funny fairy.”
“She is trouble.”
When I clicked my tongue, Ariel touched her chin.
“I never knew that you could give such a stare.”
I could not help but frown when I heard this.
I strongly disliked others commenting on me. Ariel also found that out soon, and she shook her head slightly.
“I do not wish to cause any problems. I will go ahead and play with that cute fairy. Later.”
The archduke put her hands behind her back, and she started walking away in a relaxed manner.
After a couple of steps, the archduke flew, and she suddenly disappeared.
“Lyhee is slower than her,” I muttered.
At her pace, Ariel would quickly catch up with Lyhee.
I soon moved to my next destination. After all, I had a lot to do before the meeting started.
Lyhee surrendered and gave up running away from the archduke. After a moment of silence, Ariel Diablo asked the fairy about her master. “What kind of demon is Randalf Bruciel?”
Lyhee scoffed at the archduke and stretched all of her fingers. Then the fairy answered while folding her fingers one at a time.
“My master is kind, generous, awesome, strong, smart, nice to Lyhee, has amazing mana—”
“Fine. You can stop there,” Ariel cut her off. “I can roughly guess what kind of demon he is.”
The fairy started listing Randalf’s traits, and it seemed she would not stop any time soon. Ariel Diablo shook her hand to stop the fairy.
“Why do you ask if you know all these?”
Ariel laughed. “It has been a while since the last time I was treated so rudely. Anyways… You are almost as strong as the Fairy King. Why are you still here?”
“F-Fairy King? Lyhee? No, I’m not the Fairy King.”
Lyhee answered in a rather awkward tone.
The Archduke continued to speak to Lyhee as though she was talking to herself.
“Doesn’t the Contract of Fairy last until the fairy becomes the Fairy King? If you become one, you don’t have to abide by the contract, which is often very unfair. Many fairies have desperately wished for the advent of the Fairy King.”
“Ah…who are you to tell Lyhee to do this and that? Do you think becoming the Fairy King is easy?”
“My fairy Lyhee, nobody in this world would know more than I do about fairies.”
At the same time, Ariel Diablo’s eyes turned blue. They used to be red, but they suddenly changed. The archduke looked much different with her new eyes.
Lyhee gaped at what she just saw.
“You…”
“Quiet! No one knows about this secret except for my father who passed away.”
“H-how can a demon have the eyes of fairies? It’s impossible!”
“You can’t keep quiet.”
Ariel Diablo shook her head, as though she knew that Lyhee would speak out loud.
Luckily, there was no one around to hear what Ariel just told Lyhee.
Shortly after, the archduke changed her eyes again and looked at Lyhee calmly.
Lyhee became nervous, scared that the archduke might harm her.
Then Ariel Diablo told Lyhee quietly but confidently, “Lyhee, I told you one of my secrets. Can you tell me one of yours? Why don’t you become the Fairy King, even if you are qualified?”
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