Chapter 174: Alliance and Calculation

Arthur gave her a measured look, then looked at Night. "Since you have already become a City Ruler, we would like to propose an alliance. Since our cities are quite close, I am sure we would benefit from such an alliance."

?Night didn’t answer impulsively, though he knew he might agree since there were merits to it, more for him than for them.

?But first, he asked himself: ’what’s the point of this alliance?’

?Night thought, ’All the cities are most likely being raided by Demigod monsters, so pretty soon the same will happen to my city...’

?He thought about the other cities. ’The Void God with the three cities, I have no idea about them, but the Beast Cities that I haven’t seen have merged together.’

?’I know I don’t want to merge my city with the dream city, but I might leave soon for the trials. At that time, I would need some help to protect the city.’

?’A city’s strength comes from the strong powerhouses that live in the city. While Dream City might be low on powerhouses now, it will change after the merger, and sooner or later the other humans will become Demigods.’

?’Compared to them, my city obviously has none except Minerva.’

?Then Night remembered he had a Wolf Pack, a Vampire group, and an Earth Spirit Clan taking refuge in his Nightmare Castle.

?He smirked internally. ’I can ask Minerva to share the trick she used to bypass the suppression. Since all of them are demigod, With their help, my city will have a decent defense even if I am gone...’

?’And also this way, at least the alliance will be fair and I will not get exploited.’

?Night then looked at Sara. She didn’t seem worried about what he might say; through the bond, he sensed she wanted him to make his own decision.

?Night thought, ’It seems she was serious when she talked about being my summon. Just how boring was being a City Ruler?’

’Whatever, I’ll see how this goes, if I mess up i can always as [Dream] for advice...’

?As Arthur and Zora waited patiently, Night finally spoke. "I agree, we can form an alliance."

?Arthur and Zora finally had smiles on their faces, and it seemed they were no longer cared about the prank Sara had pulled.

?Zora said, "So it’s decided. We will protect each other’s city and will also not invade the other’s."

?Night thought, Hold up... When did we agree to that...?

?Sara, as if reading his thoughts, said telepathically, ’What did you think an alliance meant?’

?Night replied, ’So we just give our word and stand by it? No contracts, nothing?’

?Sara hesitated for a second and said, ’That, they will say. If they wanted such a thing, they would have said so earlier, but they haven’t spoken of anything like that. In my opinion, you should just ask...’

?Night thought, ’Ok.’

?Night asked, "So, do we sign a contract?"

?Arthur shook his head. "Our Patron Gods have been allies since the beginning of the Cosmos. Nothing can be more assuring than that..."

?Arthur then clarified, "That’s the reason why we are willing to trust you despite our history."

?He looked at Sara, then turned to Night and said, "I am really sorry about what the organization did to you. The past cannot be changed, but let’s forge a future that we cherish."

?He got up and extended his hand, even unsummoning his silver sword as he did so.

?Night felt like he was being put on the spot. He looked at Sara for help, but all he got was an encouraging smile.

?Night thought, ’Tsk... She is really acting like a mother...’ Even though he thought that, he felt warm inside...

?Now being looked at by Arthur, Zora, and Sara, Night got up as well. Though his height was small, he managed to shake hands by tiptoeing.

?Then, when they sat back down, Arthur asked, "How did you guys know the... ancient book?..."

?Sara simply smiled. Looking at her, Arthur gave up.

?Night said, "I was the one who told her."

?Arthur and Zora looked at him in surprise.

?Arthur asked, "And how did you know? Did you read it in a ruin, or maybe in the organization?" He spoke his thoughts out loud.

?Night tapped his forehead and said, "I have the memories of a person who lived at that time. He had read the webnovel, so that’s how I know. Nothing serious."

?Arthur looked at him in shock. There were many things he wanted to ask, the main question being, Are you a reincarnator? but he swallowed them back.

?This was not the place to ask such things, especially when [The Sleepless Sword] had warned him that many Gods and even Primordial Gods were watching Night all the time.

?Though it was not a big revelation, in the wrong hands, it could still cause critical damage.

?So they did some small talk, and then they started preparing for the merger.

?...

?Night’s clone stood in front of Vance, who had just woken up after being knocked out. He was still sitting on the bed, staring blankly into space when Night returned.

?Night thought, ’I need to rope him and his group into joining my city. Also, since it was the Werewolf group that killed most of the Earth Spirit Clan members, Argus should not make a fuss about them.’

?’From the memories I have, all the Vampire group did after coming here was watch. In fact, Vance didn’t even defend when the sealing array was used on him and his colleagues.’

’At that time, if he had used that Tower artifact, then Argus’s body would be three feet under and his soul on the way to reincarnate.’

?Even though he felt Lilith and Eve did the right thing by knocking him out, Night still said apologetically, "I am sorry, I didn’t know they would put you to sleep...".

This was probably Vivianne’s brother, so he wanted to maintain a good relationship with him if possible.

?Vance’s lips twitched, but he didn’t complain. Instead, he asked, "How is my sister?"

?Night chuckled. "She is healthy..."

?Vance, who wasn’t expecting such an answer, was stunned for a second and then chuckled as well.

He was happy to see his sister alive, though he didn’t know how to feel about her becoming a summon and all... Still, being alive was good...

?Vance then pulled the sheets away and got up. "Well then, I’ll go look for Victor and the others." He was worried they might get unlucky and encounter a bunch of Demigods.

?And he didn’t know just how right he was.

?...

?In a forest, Victor and his group could be seen running from a group of horses with wings. With their bodies covered in white flames, they looked like the lackeys of angels. Though nothing they did seem angelic.

?A horse suddenly came close to Victor, but he teleported away before it could ram itself into him.

?Then Victor jumped as he dodged another fire breath from a horse that had tried to use the first horse as a distraction. He yelled, "Run, run, run....."

?Another Vampire cursed, not caring about hierarchy. "Fuck you.... What do you think we are doing?"

He was one of the unfortunate ones to take a fire breath to his backside. He didn’t even have time to change clothes; he was as naked on his backside as the day he came into the world.

?Any other time, Victor and the others would have butchered him with their taunts, but right now, they too were busy defending their own backsides.

?Victor then asked another Vampire as he dodged another fire breath, "Did you receive any answer from Prince Vance?"

?The Vampire replied as he huffed and puffed while running, "The Prince hasn’t replied yet!"

?Victor turned back, saw the huge army of horses, and said, "I see. I hope we can have a word before we turn into horse food..."

?As if the gods had heard his plea, suddenly, the space in front of them was cut open, and Night’s clone, Vance, Minerva, Rango, and Argus came out.

?Minerva released her aura. The aura was so filled with bloodlust that the horses chasing after the Vampire group paused.

?Her aura was chilling; even Night, who was beside her, got goosebumps.

?Victor and the others also felt it, though they weren’t as affected. Taking advantage of this pause, they ran toward them.

They didn’t know what had happened or why Prince Vance was together with the otherworlders and the abomination, but saving themselves was the priority here.

?Upon reaching them, before they could ask anything, Night cut them off. "Come, we are leaving," he said, and jumped back through.

?The Vampire group looked at each other, then at Vance, who followed Night, and did as they were told.

?By the time the horde of Demigod horses recovered, the space had healed and everyone was gone.

?...

?Night had brought them to his city.

?What had happened was, just when Vance was about to go searching for his group, he realized he had received a message from them asking for help.

?He immediately told Night, since he was unfamiliar with the world.

?Night understood time was of the essence, immediately called Minerva and even took Rango and Argus with him.

?He took advantage of this situation to bring them all together.

?Night knew that while Rango and Vance might get along, it would be difficult for Minerva and Argus.

?Because one was hunted as an abomination in her homeworld, while the other had his clanmates killed by Invaders.

Now that they had returned, Night walked ahead as the others followed behind him.

?His gaze swept toward Minerva as he thought, ’After seeing the horde of Demigod monsters, she should have realized even more how unsafe the outside world and even the city is.’

?Forget about her, even he had been shocked, which only made his plan of making them work with him more solid.

?Night thought, ’I brought Argus along to show him how foolish it was to take chances outside.’

Seeing the dark look on his stony face, he added, ’I guess it worked better than planned... At least this way, he will realize how stupid and suicidal his earlier plan to find some safe place was...’

?’As for Rango, I wouldn’t have let him leave even if he wanted to... After all, the wolf guy is the only one I can trust outside of my friends, even though he is an Invader...

’because just like I have my friends to worry about, he has his wives....’

?Night knew that people in the same situation could easily work together.

?They reached the top of the main mountain. Night turned and asked, his smile full of calculation, "So? How was the small trip?"