Ciel: <>
Voice of the World: <<>>
******
While Rimuru was dealing with the whole Mariabell Rosso situation, over in the Harpy Queendom of Fulbrosia, Frey had just seen Milim off and was now slumped in her bedchamber, completely drained of whatever social energy she had left. Even so, she couldn't help but feel genuinely grateful that her castle was still standing in one piece at least.
After giving herself a minute to simply breathe, her thoughts drifted back to their earlier conversation, specifically, to that supposed 'best friend' Milim had mentioned. Honestly, Frey found it hard to believe that there was some unknown demon out there who could keep up with Milim Nava, the Destroyer, in an actual fight, and one who wasn't named Guy Crimson.
Still, the Sky Queen believed her.
Because for all of Milim's childish antics and her absolute lack of restraint, Frey knew damn well that the girl didn't do political theater. Manipulation, duplicity, scheming, none of that interested Milim. She didn't need it anyway. Anyone with even half a brain cell dedicated to survival instinct knew not to mess with Milim, and when she set her mind on something, there were only a handful of individuals who could stand in her way.
And that was one of the many reasons Frey made a point to maintain such a good relationship with the Destroyer, despite the constant cost of doors and structural repairs that followed every one of her visits. That was how it started, at least, but somewhere along the way, things changed. After years of her chaotic presence and absolute sincerity, Frey found herself genuinely valuing Milim's honest, uncomplicated friendship. She'd even come to see the girl as a younger sister, despite the very strange fact that Milim was, chronologically speaking, far, far older than her.
"Rimuru..." Frey murmured, recalling the reports her subordinates had hastily compiled on the blue-haired demon while she'd been busy entertaining Milim. "Building a nation of monsters that somehow looks better than most human kingdoms... and he's getting along with humans too. He seems oddly reasonable for someone that strong..." she frowned, tapping a claw lightly against her knee.
On one hand, it was practically the ideal situation for her that a powerhouse on Milim's level who actually seemed reasonable enough to approach diplomatically. But on the other hand, the whole thing left her uneasy in a way she couldn't quite shake. This kind of calm, stable, constructive behavior didn't match anything in her experience. Her entire sample size of beings on that level consisted of Guy Crimson, who absolutely did not count as 'reasonable' and Milim, who was... well, Milim. Neither of them came anywhere close to the word reliable, at least not in a way that let Frey sleep peacefully at night.
"Maybe I should look into him a bit more before making a move..." Frey decided, leaning back as her wings shifted restlessly behind her. It wasn't fear, exactly, but she wasn't reckless enough to pretend she understood someone like Rimuru from a few surface-level scraps of intel. The information she currently had was the basic kind anyone could gather, compiled in just a few frantic hours, and nowhere near enough for someone as cautious as her.
Just then, Frey heard rapid, frantic banging on her door. A vein twitched on her forehead as she pushed herself up, marched over, and yanked it open with enough force to rattle the hinges. She glared at the servant standing there, wings puffed in irritation. "What is it?" she snapped at the harpy before her.
The servant flinched hard at her tone, visibly shaking as she spoke. "Queen Frey, forgive the intrusion during your rest, but Seer Circe has summoned you urgently."
The moment the old woman's name left the servant's mouth, all of Frey's irritation vanished, replaced immediately by a pit of cold panic that dropped straight into her stomach. The last time that old woman had summoned her with this level of urgency, she'd dropped an existential crisis on the entire Queendom.
Without wasting a single breath on further questions, Frey sprinted down the corridors toward the seer's chambers. When she arrived and stepped inside, her heart sank the moment she saw the old woman. Circe's face was ghostly pale, her body trembling as she stared fixedly into the crystal ball before her.
"Seer Circe, are you all right?" Frey asked, her voice softer than she expected as she slowly approached the old woman.
"No... no, I am not," the seer replied, giving a weak, brittle shake of her head. "Queen Frey, forgive me, but I bring bad news."
"Seer, stop talking in riddles and just say it!" Frey snapped, her voice coming out more sharply than she intended, but impossible to hold back. Her nerves were already boiling, stretched to their limit by the tension radiating from the room.
"Queen Frey, I had another vision about the coming disaster. From what I saw, it's going to arrive sooner than we expected," Circe said with a weary sigh that made Frey's stomach twist.
"How soon?" Frey forced herself to ask even though every instinct in her body screamed at her not to.
The seer fell silent for a long moment, long enough that Frey could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. Finally, Circe lifted her gaze. Her eyes were full of fear and resignation. "Six days..." she whispered.
Frey's breath hitched, her eyes widening as a storm of thoughts slammed into her all at once. Then, without another word, she rose abruptly and strode out of the old seer's room, heading straight for her throne room. Once there, she immediately summoned her two daughters, who arrived without delay.
"Mother," Claire and Luchia said in perfect unison as they approached and knelt before her.
"My daughters, the moment of disaster is upon us, and I won't lie, what we're facing is a threat to the very existence of this nation," Frey said sharply, trying her hardest not to reveal the helplessness and panic clawing at her chest.
Claire and Luchia's eyes hardened instantly, their posture straightening as they braced themselves, ready to lay down their lives for their Queen and for their mother.
"That's why," Frey continued, a flicker of pride warming her chest as she noticed the shift in her usually laid-back daughters, "from this moment on, Fulbrosia is under total lockdown. Raise security to the maximum. I don't want a single outsider crossing our borders without my permission," she instructed as her two daughters nodded their heads in acknowledgment.
"You two will take command of our troops, and I'm giving you full authority to deploy them however you see fit. But remember this: I will not tolerate a single slip-up. If anything goes wrong, the consequences will be severe, whether you are my daughters or not," she warned them sharply. But then a small smile tugged at Frey's lips when her daughters nodded without the slightest hint of hesitation or resentment.
"Good. Then go and begin preparations," Frey ordered, her posture straightening as she shifted fully into the role of queen rather than mother. "And before you start, send Nemu to me. I have an important task for her."
******
Meanwhile, in the Puppet Nation of Jistav, a certain Marionette Master was grinning with malicious delight, having just received exactly the sort of news he'd been dying to hear.
"Tear, are you certain you found Charybdis?" Clayman asked, leaning forward as he addressed the short, twin-tailed clown girl.
"Hey! Hey! Are you seriously doubting my intelligence!?" Tear huffed, folding her arms. "Has my information ever been wrong?"
"Yeah, I shouldn't have asked," Clayman muttered, rolling his eyes with a sigh. "Anyway, can we release it and use it?"
"That won't be a problem," Tear replied confidently. "I don't know when it was sealed there, but the seal's weakened so much that even we can break it ourselves without needing the boss's power."
"Excellent," Clayman said, his eyes lighting up with greedy satisfaction. 'If that's the case, I can use this to make up for messing up the Artificial Demon Lord plan.'
"But aside from that, we'll also need a host to resurrect that stupid fish," Tear added as she plopped onto one of the couches, kicking her legs lazily back and forth.
"A host, huh?" Clayman echoed, tapping a finger thoughtfully against his chin. His mind immediately began sifting through a list of disposable pawns. People whose deaths could conveniently serve his future plans as well.
Then, just as Clayman's thoughts drifted toward Tempest and he began crafting a plan to use one of its citizens to frame Rimuru as the mastermind behind this whole scheme, the door opened and his maid Eva stepped into the room.
"Clayman-sama, the merchant named Damrada is here to see you," Eva said politely, though the underlying annoyance in her voice was impossible to miss. Her irritation was aimed at both her master and the merchant who had somehow wormed his way into their lives like an invasive parasite over the past few years. What unsettled her even more was how Clayman, of all people, had grown oddly fond of the man, even sharing closely guarded information with the man.
"Oh, Damrada is here? Send him in!" Clayman said with a bright smile, leaning back in his chair.
Eva bowed and left the room, but the moment the door closed behind her, she let out a quiet, weary sigh. She couldn't help wondering what had happened to the sharp-minded young boy she had chosen to follow all those years ago. How had he turned into someone so foolish, so arrogant, so blindly trusting of an outsider whose motives she knew could never be good? The Clayman she remembered would never have been this careless. Still, Eva did as she was told and sent Damrada to her master's office.
A moment later, the door to Clayman's office opened, and a blond, middle-aged man stepped inside with a polite smile plastered onto his face. "Lord Clayman, it's good to see you," he said smoothly with practiced ease.
"Damrada, come, sit and have a drink with me. I'm in an excellent mood today," Clayman said, practically humming with excitement as he opened a brand-new bottle of expensive, premium wine.
"Oh? Then it must be quite the joyous occasion for you to invite an insignificant merchant like me for a drink," Damrada replied with an air of false modesty, though he immediately took the seat across from Clayman without a shred of hesitation.
"Yes, you could definitely say that," Clayman replied as he personally poured the wine for the blond man. With a flourish and a grin, he launched into the details of his latest grand plan, while Damrada listened with great interest.
Meanwhile, Tear was furious and genuinely baffled as to why Clayman kept spilling all their secrets to an outsider like Damrada. She stood off to the side with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently, glaring daggers at the merchant, who barely spared her a glance, keeping his focus squarely on Clayman instead.
"Lord Clayman, I cannot put into words how brilliant your plan is. Not only will you get your revenge, but you'll also gain tools for future schemes," Damrada praised generously, laying it on, little too thick. And judging by the pleased smile slowly spreading across Clayman's face, his flattery was hitting exactly the right spots. "That said, Lord Clayman... would you mind if I offered a little assistance with this brilliant scheme of yours?"
"Oh? And what do you mean by that?" Clayman asked, leaning forward slightly, intrigued. Compliments were expected, since he knew full well the merchant was trying to win his favor, and Clayman certainly believed he deserved every last bit of praise, but an offer of cooperation from someone as resourceful as Damrada was far more interesting.
"You mentioned needing a host to awaken Charybdis, didn't you?" Damrada said as he leaned forward, a dangerous glint flickering in his eyes. "Well, to be honest, I might have the perfect candidate in mind."
******
Sometime later, Damrada was walking along the path, casually smoking a cigar, when suddenly another presence materialized beside him, and a hooded man fell into step with him as if he'd been walking there the entire time.
"Lord General, you called for me?" the newcomer asked in a low and controlled voice as they continued walking along.
"Yes. Return to the Empire as soon as you can. I have two important messages you need to deliver," Damrada said, taking a slow, thoughtful puff from his cigar before slipping two envelopes from inside his coat.
"This first one is for Lieutenant Kondou," he said, handing over the envelope with deliberate care. "Just give this envelope to him, and tell him that 'pawn is on the big move,' he will know the rest."
"And the second envelope, General?" the hooded man asked, his gaze shifting briefly to the sealed letter before returning to Damrada, waiting for instructions.
"Well, this one is a little more important than the first," Damrada said as he handed over the second envelope. "For this one, I want you to maintain total secrecy. No detours, no unnecessary contact. And tell the receiver that if she accepts the offer, she needs to come here immediately."
"Understood, General… but to whom am I going to pass this to?" the hooded man asked, the slightest hint of curiosity slipping into his tone.
"You are going to pass this letter to General Nazami of the Magic Beast Division."
To be continued...
******
[AN: Before anyone comments that 'I'm back', I appreciate it, but please don't. Just remember that none of my fanfics are abandoned. They're in a perpetual state of being written, depending on my time and interest. and inspiration.
Also, I know some of you don't like shorter chapters, but the truth is, the length of any chapter depends entirely on what I want to cover in that specific section. That means some chapters might end up around 2,000 words, while others might stretch to 7–8,000. So, sorry about that, but that's just how I write.
And lastly, thank you so much for sticking around and still being here, even after such a long gap between updates.]