A Demon's Journey

Azaroth spent quite a lot of his time with Sophie. For the first two days, the two talked about Kloras Town and narrated how their lives had been since the two went separate ways.

Azaroth gave her a basic story of what happened with him.

The two were walking around, talking about the array formations.

It was Sophie who was very interested in this topic. She told him about a new idea she had.

It was related to an illusionary array. She was wondering how she could improve it.

Azaroth didn't give her much advice regarding it. He had to show that he had little idea about the arrays.

If he really revealed his true knowledge to her, then she would be greatly stunned. And then, she would understand he was lying about his array formations' skill to her.

From what he heard, Sophie was planning to incorporate the illusionary formation with a killing formation.

Azaroth just quietly listened to her ideas and told her what he considered was right.

Soon, Sophie suggested that she wanted to create a barrier array around the entire Kloras Town.

Azaroth was actually considering doing this as well but he didn't get the time for it.

Now, since he had to accompany Sophie anyway, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make her construct the barrier formation.

After she leaves, he could just upgrade it as best as he could. To upgrade an array, changing the energy source and modifying certain parts of it would bring a significant change.

The only thing he had to be careful of was to prevent Sophie from meeting Laura and others.

Among Azaroth's retainers, only Noah met up with Sophie, the rest remained hidden in the training grounds within one of Laura's houses.

It was Sargan who was instructing them what they should do every day.

Azaroth met up with Sargan every night secretly and informed him of the instructions for others.

~~

Currently, Azaroth was seated with Sophie. The two were eating their lunch made by Sophie.

Sophie was rather nervous as Azaroth ate the food made by her. Although she had practiced cooking with her mother, she didn't know what Azaroth would think of it.

Hopefully, he wouldn't dislike it.

Azaroth noticed Sophie's nervousness and could easily guess that she was worried about his reaction to the food's taste.

As he took a bite, he then looked at Sophie with a serious look, "It's really good."

Sophie appeared relieved as she heard him.

Soon, she heard a faint whisper in her ears, "…I would prefer to eat you though."

Sophie snapped her eyes open and looked at Azaroth. She noticed a faint smile on his lips as he took another bite of her food and stared at her.

She wasn't disgusted as she heard his words. In reality, she was feeling something similar as she spent more time with Azaroth.

She faintly remembered the night with Azaroth in Silver-Blood Inn. And there were times when she would feel rather lustful.

Today, was one such day.

However, she was still shy to speak her thoughts aloud. As someone whose circle was full of Noble heirs, she knew that a woman who would initiate it in a relationship would be considered a loose woman.

Even though she was sure that Azaroth wouldn't look down on her but she was still very embarrassed to speak those words aloud.

However, she never thought Azaroth would speak those words at such a time so she was caught completely off guard.

Azaroth continued to eat the food as if nothing had happened but Sophie was getting more and more awkward as she remained silent.

Soon, Azaroth heard a soft voice, "…I will keep my room open tonight."

Azaroth naturally understood her meaning and replied with a smile, "Heh, that would be good."

As Sophie heard his voice, she flushed red and just left for her room. She was no longer in the mood for eating. Her heart was beating too wildly and she wanted to calm down. Staying and talking with Azaroth wasn't going to help with that.

Once Sophie was out of his sight, Azaroth had a serious look on his face. He called out for Noah.

Noah immediately arrived in the dining hall and saw Azaroth looking at him.

"Noah, go in the training ground. Today, you will attempt your trial. Also, tell Sargan to come here. From now on, you will live in the training ground." Azaroth ordered him solemnly.

Noah was startled when he heard Azaroth. He looked anxious as he asked, "Did I make a mistake, boss? Is that why you are replacing me with Sargan?"

Azaroth replied, "No. I want you to focus on training your techniques. Once you pass the trial, you will get much stronger. Also, you need to build up your prestige. You are someone who will become my sword then you need to get used to commanding and managing others. Otherwise, the assistance you can provide me will be limited."

When Noah heard his last sentence, he was utterly shaken up.

'No… I can't become worthless. I need to be better…'

Azaroth noticed the anxiousness on Noah's face and spoke kindly, "Well, you don't have to worry about it too much. You are still young and your progression is quite good. But remember, you need to have a certain prestige that would make others listen to you. A charisma to make people follow you to their death!"

Noah nodded his head, still slightly worried but he understood that since Azaroth was saying it was alright then it probably was.

Azaroth knew how things were going on within his retainers' minds. Currently, they had all started depending on Sargan.

Now that Azaroth had curbed Sargan's arrogance, Sargan had already begun to show his talent.

His quick wit was well appreciated by everyone among his retainers. His plans and bits of advice were accepted and appreciated by everyone.

Azaroth didn't actually care that they were starting to respect Sargan and listen to his word. To be worried about such a thing was beneath him.

The thing he was worried about was that his retainers would depend on Sargan to such an extent that they would slowly stop thinking.

If they stopped thinking and just left the decisions on Sargan then what was the point of Azaroth to invest his time in training them?

Azaroth was training his retainers so they could think for themselves and handle a part of the tasks assigned to them.

Not so they could become mindless soldiers.

~~

Noah soon left for the training grounds some distance away from Azaroth's mansion. He conveyed Azaroth's words to others and Sargan soon departed for Azaroth's mansion.

Before Sargan left for Azaroth's mansion, Noah asked him, "How do I build up my prestige?"

He was just curious since he knew that Sargan had accomplished it. Even he felt inclined to ask Sargan for advice.

Sargan looked surprised Noah asked such a question, "Think of ways to help your comrades. That would allow you to grow and increase the respect for you in your comrades' heart."

Noah nodded his head before he bid him farewell.

~~

Shun was talking to the King on the other side of the Voice Transmission Array Stone.

"What?! You have found a demonic totem in the forest near Wrihull City? And Jonas couldn't move it?!" The King was utterly flabbergasted to hear this information.

It wasn't the appearance of the Demonic Totem that shocked him. He was more shocked at the fact that Jonas with his strength as a 6 Star Rank Warrior couldn't move it.

Jonas was also in the same room and looked quite ashamed.

Shun though added, "There is a trick to the totem. Its composition is of some very strange materials. Atleast, I have never heard of them. Moreover, when we tried to move it, I felt that it was connected to the ground with some sort of array. When I inspected the ground beneath it though, I found nothing."

"I see…Then are you sure that this is the same demon that has abducted that Elf Princess?" The King asked with a serious tone.

"There is a high chance of that happening. As far as I know, this is the only demon whose whereabouts are entirely unknown. However, to figure out where he could have gone, we need to inspect this totem and figure out his identity." Shun spoke seriously.

He quickly requested, "Would His Majesty please send someone well versed in archeology to inspect this Demonic Totem? That should shorten the chase for this individual."

"…Very well." The King agreed rather calmly. He added, "I will send Felix Miller, he is the brightest archeologist of our Kingdom. However, he has gone to investigate some ruins recently found in the Lamhilian Theocracy. It would take him a month to return and inspect this Demonic Totem."

Shun was dissatisfied as King informed him that it would take nearly one month or more for Felix Miller to come and inspect this demonic totem.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Shun spoke with a forced smile.

Once the array stones disconnected, Shun let out a sigh.

Jonas noticed that Shun was disappointed. He spoke, "You look dissatisfied. You should be happy that the King will send Felix here. Even I have heard of that man. He is indeed very knowledgeable about the ruins and totems."

Shun spoke with a dissatisfied look, "A month is too long though."

He then looked at Jonas, "Please give me access to your library. I have no intention to look at the secret records of the Rhodes Family. Just give me what information the Rhodes Family has over the demons. Maybe I can find something in those."

Jonas replied while rolling his eyes, "I expected you to ask for it and began the screening process a few days earlier. In a few days, you will receive the books regarding the demons. Well, most of them appear to be mere legends though so I urge you to not take them too seriously."

Shun shrugged, "I can atleast distinguish false from the truth."

Jonas didn't doubt his words. Shun was indeed intelligent enough to be capable of it.

A few days later, Shun received a bundle of books that nearly covered half of his room in the Rhodes Estate.

He picked up the one on the top and began reading them one by one.

This book contained information regarding demons in general. Their hierarchy and how they lived in purgatory.

Although it wasn't too detailed, Shun wasn't interested in reading something of that sort.

After quickly going through the book, he moved onto the next one. This book contained incidents of when the demons attacked the human settlements.

Shun read them carefully as he thought there might be some kind of hint here.

After reading about the multiple incidents where demons attacked the human settlements, Shun deduced their objective. However, the appearances written in this book didn't match that the appearance of the totem.

As a result, Shun started reading the next book, and the cycle continued...

Shun had a lot of knowledge about demons by the end of the day. They looked to be a savage species, but there were sparks of cleverness inside it.

However, he still had no idea about that totem. He still couldn't accomplish his objective and it frustrated him to no end.

It was as if he had a clue in his reach but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't grab hold of it.. This frustrated him more than having no clue at all.