"Yesterday, I asked the gatekeepers who have been guarding my home for months to invite you all over. I was worried whether they could actually bring you here, but you really came."
"Those gatekeepers—are they from your families?"
Sora sipped his tea leisurely, a curious smile on his face.
"Lord Kusanagi, you misunderstand. Those people are just…"
Hearing Sora's rhetorical question, everyone, including the four family heads, stiffened. Comrade Kuhoutsuka Mikihiko, sitting beside his family head, nervously stood up to explain.
"Silence!!!"
But before Mikihiko could finish, his grandfather, the Kuhoutsuka family head, sharply interrupted.
"Grandpa…"
Mikihiko was dumbfounded, unable to understand why his grandfather stopped him so sternly. He only wanted to clarify the misunderstanding to Lord Kusanagi. Had he done something wrong?
Seeing Mikihiko's confusion, the Kuhoutsuka family head felt both anger and disappointment.
Though Mikihiko was excellent and the heir apparent, he was still too young and inexperienced. Compared to Sayanomiya's daughter, who silently observed the situation, he was far behind.
Explain? How dare you question a king's judgment? That is a grave taboo!
Moreover, from the tone alone, it was clear the king already knew everything. Why bother explaining?
"Please understand, Your Majesty. Those people are indeed our family members, but we have no ill intentions nor any desire to spy on you."
Ignoring Mikihiko, the other three family heads stood and bowed respectfully.
They spoke honestly because they had warned their subordinates not to overstep boundaries. They could claim those actions were a form of covert "protection."
But if Mikihiko had been allowed to blunder his explanation, their only defense would have been lost…
Mikihiko was not stupid; he was very smart, or he wouldn't be the heir. Seeing his grandfather and the other family heads' actions, he immediately realized the situation and turned pale with fear. He had almost made a grave mistake!
If he had explained recklessly, it would not have solved anything but given the Demon king a handle to use against them.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as his eyes glanced at Sayanomiya Kaoru, who was smirking with a hint of sarcasm. Mikihiko was furious but silently decided to keep quiet from now on and leave everything to his grandfather.
"Hehe… family heads, no need to be nervous. Actually, I should thank you for sending such responsible gatekeepers, working 24/7, so I no longer worry about thieves!"
Looking at the frightened Mikihiko, Sora found him amusing and teased the four family heads.
"Your Majesty, we dare not…"
Even the four family heads blushed and said "dare not," but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This matter was over.
"I've said before, though this kid became the Demon king, it's nothing special. No need for you to bow to me. Everyone should live their own lives."
"Hmm, you've all behaved well so far, and my family's life has not been disturbed."
Setting down his cup, Sora continued:
"Actually, you don't need to worry that I covet anything from you. Times have changed. Though you were once ancient families serving the emperor, I'm really not interested."
"Besides, as you've seen, my two knights Erica and Liliana, their knight guilds have pledged allegiance to me. Even if I need some errands done, they're enough."
Shrugging, as Sora finished, Erica and Liliana stepped forward knowingly.
"All members of our 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross' have already sworn allegiance to the King. Speaking of which, we must thank the heads of the great families for giving the opportunity to our organization!"
Erica and Liliana looked at the heads of the four great families with playful yet sarcastic smiles on their faces.
If it weren't for these guys hesitating all along and harboring some ill intentions, perhaps our organization wouldn't have had anything to do with this at all. Their King resides in this country, and in this regard, the four great families hold an absolute advantage.
Moreover, to be honest, each of the four great families has an extremely powerful heritage and foundation, in no way inferior to their knight order. In this country, they are like local overlords!
If they hadn't been so scheming and had made up their minds early on, where would there be any chance for the 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross'?
Hearing the words of Sora and the two women, Erica and Liliana, the heads of the four great families all felt a sudden pang in their hearts, their expressions dark and unsettled. The Demon King's words were clear: he wanted to distance himself from them, which was not something to celebrate!
Furthermore, seeing the two young girls so smug, the heads of the four families were inwardly annoyed but also couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret.
Because they were right — it was their own fault for letting the opportunity slip away!
When they first received news that someone in their country had become a God Slayer, the four great families were terrified. This was not good news for them.
In this era without monarchs or emperors, the four great families were the rulers of the country. Now suddenly a Demon King appeared — wouldn't that mean they would be suppressed again, forced to serve as the king's lackeys as before?
No one wanted that!
However, after sending that young girl from the Sayanomiya family to probe the Demon King's intentions, the four great families relaxed. It turned out this so-called Demon King was just a self-contented brat who, despite gaining great power, was useless. He said he wasn't interested in the four great families and that everyone could just live their own lives without interference.
Foolish! Truly foolish!!!
But this suited the four great families' wishes perfectly. Since the Demon King himself gave up, they would just let him be! Even if he regretted it later, it wouldn't concern them.
At that time, the four great families didn't really care about Sora, the newly debuted little Demon King. Becoming a Demon King meant constant battles against heretic gods and peers, and new Demon Kings were generally weak and often wiped out by stronger heretic gods — history was full of such cases.
Besides, six true Great Demon Kings were above him. How could he grow easily?!
For these reasons, unwilling to lose their dominance to a brat or thinking the new Demon King had no potential and might die young, the four great families adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
Their thinking was: this brat couldn't escape their territory anyway. If he survived and grew strong, their families could then submit to him. But if he died halfway, well, they could just laugh it off…
However, as time passed, when they heard that this new Demon King had defeated the Sword King Salvatore Doni, the heretic god Athena, driven away the strongest and oldest God Slayer Marquis Voban, even defeated the Steel Hero Perseus, and fought a shocking battle with the strongest form of the Earth Mother Goddess Athena — and won — the four great families were dumbfounded!
Such a rapid rise was astonishing, simply unbelievable!
They couldn't help but regret. None of them expected this brat they once thought mediocre to have such huge potential! They had missed the chance, and even if their families submitted now, it wouldn't be as meaningful as if they had done so from the start.
Though regretful, it was not too late to express loyalty to the Demon King now, and in some ways, this aligned with their original plan.
But what infuriated the four great families beyond expectation was that the shameless members of the 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross' had already sworn allegiance to the Demon King before them!
Moreover, the four great families learned that many other magical organizations and groups had also pledged loyalty to the Demon King who should have belonged to them. However, the 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross' had clearly become the leading figures. The Demon King was too lazy to manage trivial matters, so most organizations obeyed the orders of these two groups.
If they submitted now, wouldn't they be subordinate to the 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross'?
This was absolutely intolerable to the four great families!
Frustration, regret, and unwillingness — the four great families knew they had made a foolish decision to hand over a Demon King with great potential to others. This unexpected and self-inflicted bitterness left them feeling very uneasy.
However, they did not give up. Since the 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross' shamelessly stole the Demon King who should have belonged to them, they would just take him back!
Thus, a conspiracy to seize the Demon King back from the 'Copper-Black Cross' and 'Bronze-Black Cross' and bring him under the four great families' control was born…