Epic Of Caterpillar

[Sugita Masami Azuma Perspective] [Azuma Empire Great Phoenix Empress] [2/2]

In the following days, things have begun to calm in Athetosea as one of the surviving spies reported a massive war outside of the Kingdom, a small group of demi-humans completely crushed the massive army of Athetosean Soldiers…

Such monsters… They were all highly evolved demi-humans, they even reported giant Wyverns and a massive tree that appeared out of nowhere…

A strange being was seen, it seemed to be an ordinary high fairy, but it revealed an incredible strength that could overwhelm anything that rebelled against her…

My husband says that this woman, is most probably the leader, only judging by how she acted and the incredible strength and powers she showcased. We spent several days investigating the library and finally found what could this strange monster be...

In the ancient library of Azuma, there are the tales of Realm Menaces… Beings born once every millennium…

The latest Realm Menace was the Realm Menace of Pride, who after defeating the last army of Cyclops, went into seclusion to the south of the continent, and was never seen again. People have not investigated again there as it's filled with its children, gigantic dark cyclops that possess overwhelming strength and can crush armies of thousands of soldiers with their fists.

Speculations say that this Realm Menace may possibly be still alive, but the fairy we saw can't be related to him as their places of origin are too far away from each other…

Other Realm Menaces were Envy, Ulrandir a High Elf that possessed incredible magic powers and could overwhelm whole countries with its spells and conjures of mass destruction. It envied everything and seek to take everything from everyone, and if he couldn't, he just destroyed them mercilessly…

His power was almost endless has he dragged the power from the whole Realm, having an infinite pool of MP. With his flashy spells, he controlled all elements and caused catastrophic and apocalyptic disasters everywhere. In the end, the whole continent allied forces with both central continents into an all-out war to finally put an end to this Menace.

There were reports of another Realm Menace, Gluttony, but the destruction it caused was minimal compared to what the previous ones did. Alongside this, this Menace was the first ever to be a human. Some books say that he was always seeking someone dear to him, and managed to escape the Realm of Vida and flew towards a different Realm in the vast Astral Road. His purposes were unknown, but he never caused too much destruction and was not pursued by the Central Continents.

The rest of the Realm Menace is very ancient, being born long ago, over ten of thousands of years ago… Their tales tell destruction as well and are worthy of mention.

There was the Realm Menace of Sloth, massive whale merfolk that rested in the depths of the seas and increased its strength as it devoured the sea itself. When it awakened, it released powerful tantrums as the entire Realm trembled with earthquakes. There are no reports of this monster being killed off, and some even speculate that it is still alive living in the depths of the oceans, sleeping endlessly… The Sea Devouring Whale of Sloth was his title. 

The Realm Menace of Wrath came afterward… A giant Lion Demi-Human that towered over ten meters in size. Its power was immense and his mane danced around as he devastated everything withs its massive fist of destruction. It was always angry and filled with wrath, some speculations say that the man awakened into this monster after having its village destroyed by humans mercilessly. Although he didn't discriminate in what he killed, he always targeted human Kingdoms first, bringing demise to millions of humans through the years. He even managed to destroy half of the Central Continents and had killed 90% of the Heroes that tried to defeat him.

In the end, when the tyrannical Lion had his fill, he escaped the Realm and devastated everything, even other Realms. Some say that he continued destroying other Realms until it died from old age.

Afterward came the Realm Menace of Greed, a strange Demon Slime that was born from the nether in the depths of the Realm. Its instincts always led it to devour others or steal their skills and equipment, slowly growing a desire to obtain what was from others, and steal it shamelessly. As it evolved and became stronger, its humanoid form took the form of a beautiful woman that tricked adventurers and stole their weapons, equipment, and even their lives.

She devastated the Kingdoms but was ultimately brought to death by the cooperative work of the two Central Continents, the Heavenly Commandments, and the Heroes, although many Heroes died and it took thousands of years for the Kingdoms to recuperate.

There has never been a Realm Menace of Lust before, so this beautiful fairy, that possessed such strong mind-controlling abilities to the point of making all of Athetosea its puppets is probably Lust…

It is said that the Sin of Lust comes with the power to manipulate others' feelings, minds, and dominate them. Those who oppose her shall suffer an eternal hell of intoxicating and overwhelming pleasure until they submit as her eternal slaves.

Seeing how those species that are capable of controlling other minds are so rare and most of the time very weak, this Realm has never prepared itself to fight such a dangerous enemy, it could end even worst than other Sins and possibly conquer the entire Realm, making all of it her royal dogs.

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As we have received more reports from the few surviving spies, it seems that the entire Athetosea is indeed being mind-controlled, although they act normally, anyone was able to notice that there was something "odd" and "weird" going on… Their smiles were somewhat too unnatural and the way the humans treated the demi-humans living inside of the Kingdom was incredibly out of character…

Athetoseans are known for their incredible racism over other demi-human species, seeing them suddenly licking the feet of them out of nowhere is something incredibly weird. Even more, it seems that the Fairy has been wandering around as if life was some type of slice of life novel. She does not care about anything else as it spends its day with her countless concubines of various species and even children…

She seems very protective of her family… Perhaps, we could empathize and maybe seek mutual existence? It could sound crazy… But how her strength was showcased, it's that or… destruction…

She and her army killed Athetosea's only Hero alongside all of the Champions and Elemental Knights. Although we have five Heroes instead, not all of them were as strong as the Hero of Raging Winds, some of our Heroes are not even battle capable like the Hero of Poems and the Heroine of Alchemy…

We may possess three times Athetosea's war power, but that Fairy had power and strength to spare after killing off such a massive army… Even more, her subordinates, who are highly evolved demi-humans and monsters posses incredible might.

I have never seen such evolved demi-humans before, it's extremely unnatural for demi-humans to evolve more than one time, and it's only one in one hundred that manages to evolve one time.

Now imagine one evolving three times, four times or five times, only one in a million! Yet… She had so many third, even fourth and fifth stage evolved monsters and demi-humans… Most of these showcased a strength of High Overlord rank or even greater at Obliterator rank…

Is there… even hope…? My people… my family…

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Today something incredible happened… One of the spies that I sent came back, however, it was not like the other times…

The spy name is Jirou, and he's a loyal Kobold Spy. He was captured by the Fairy and brainwashed, she obtained all his info and then sent him back here.

My guards tried to dispose of him but a Red Slime seemed to be protecting him. Alongside this, he was wearing an amazing set of armor and weapons that would sometimes completely hide his presence. Just what kind of wonderful items are those?

After seeing how Jirou disabled but not killed my guards, I spoke with him.

"You… Jirou, right? Why have you not killed the guards?"

"Empress of the Azuma Empire, my Master has explicitly told me not to kill anyone here!"

"Hm? Master? Who is that Master…?"

"Haha. You must already know who I am talking about. My Master was fine if I told you her name. Master is the Realm Menace of Lust, Kireina!"

"So that's her name… And she was indeed a Realm Menace of Lust!"

My husband who was at my side calmed me down as he spoke with Jirou.

"Jirou san, did you come to bring a message from your Master?"

"That is indeed what I've come for, sir"

"Please, come inside, we can talk about things with some tea and snacks"

"Oh? Such a generous invitation. Master has told me to speak about the message indoors, so I will have to wholeheartedly accept"

"Good… Please, come inside, feel yourself at home, Jirou san"

"Thanks, sir"

It seems that my husband has somehow calmed things down… He is really a very sharp man…

When we were inside the palace, the maids brought countless snacks and sweets that Kobolds enjoyed the most, alongside a wide variety of teas.

"Oh, such a generous variety of snacks and tea. You are indeed a fine man, sir"

"Hahaha, its nothing. Please, serve yourself some tea"

Jirou slowly served himself some tea as the Red Slime at his shoulders devoured the snacks and drank tea on its own. It was a very strange sight…

"Is the sea of your liking, Jirou san?"

"Hm! It's indeed very good… Now, it is time to enter in the important matters"

Jirou suddenly stood up as he took a beautiful white paper from its Item Box

"Empress of the Azuma Empire! My Master on his benevolence has shown interest in your Empire and has generously offered an Alliance! Here is the contract, made by Master herself, the moment you sign it, a vow between each other souls will be done and connected. Ensuring her trust"

"An… Alliance?"

"That is correct! Master has noticed your constant struggles with the Thanatos Kingdom and the few Demi-Human Kingdoms around and has offered an Alliance with you after seriously discussing it with her family. After the conquest of Athetosea, many Kingdoms have put their eyes in her, and she desires a companion and ally in the turmoil that it's slowly approaching…"

Impossible! I can't believe it… An alliance?! T-This means... Having a Realm Menace has one of my allies… Even conquering Thanatos will be an easy possibility… Such an opportunity will probably never show up to me ever again!

After seriously discussing the vow details with my husband, we found that the whole contract was very loose and didn't have many rules other than not mutual harm, help each other, facilitate trading, and so on…

To think that the Realm Menace of Lust, who I thought was a dominant and possessive woman would be so intelligent and interested in mercantile issues.

In the end, we ended up accepting with my husband, as he signed as well, obtaining the contract with his soul as well.

Jirou nodded as he drank the last bit of tea and stood up once again.

"Hm! Azuma Empire Empress, you have done the right thing! Master will be delighted after seeing the results… Now, it is time for me to return if you excuse me…"

Flash!

And with a small "flash" sound, Jirou suddenly disappeared from our sight completely.

Although the contract was incredibly generous and beneficial for my Empire, I couldn't help but have a constant uneasiness on my heart…

"This uneasiness… Did we really do… the right thing?"

"Of course, we did… What more could we do…? From now on, we will be working with Kireina to ensure our Empire's survivability… It was the right thing to do, it was the realistic thing to do"

Although Kimura seemed confident, he couldn't hide the concern inside of his black pupils.

"Kimura…"

"Masami, I will always be at your side…"

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