Act 1 - Another Visit
A few days had passed since Ren, and his family was visited by the deities that were somehow connected to them. Nothing of significance happened these past few days. Most of Ren's spare time was left on developing his territory to better suit the new inhabitants that he took in just recently. Despite saying that he wouldn't be that active in helping them out, he's played quite a huge role in helping the villagers adapt to their new environment.
"Alright, so for our next project, we need a proper irrigation system. Use the shovels in the warehouse to dig out these paths, and I'll take care of the rest later. Just follow what is drawn and we should be good."
Ren was instructing a group of men and women while projecting an image of the layout of the irrigation system. The image showed a set of lines, connecting the settlements to the lake at the center.
"We'll have to deal with this as soon as possible so that you'll have an easier time with the crops rather than going back and forth to the lake. Also--"
As Ren was continuing his explanation to the villagers, he heard a voice call out to him.
"Ren!"
"Excuse me for a bit."
Ren stood up after excusing himself from the meeting, and turned around to find the source of the voice. He spotted Kurumi jogging towards him. Ren then went and walked towards her as well, making the two meet in the middle, and sparing a few seconds.
"What's wrong?" Ren asked.
"The king. He's here to see you," Kurumi answered as she briefly caught her breath.
"What is it this time? Also, how come he didn't just send a letter to me to warp him here instead," Ren pondered.
"Oh well. I'll go see him. You guys, I've already given you your task. Go get to it."
"Yes chief!"
After dismissing the small meeting, Ren went and walked along with Kurumi to meet Galen. As they made it out onto the clearing, Ren spotted a familiar carriage moving along the coast, approaching his home. In order to save time, Ren went and warped the two of them near the house entrance where Karis was standing there waiting for them.
"Ah you're here," Karis said upon spotting the two appear beside her.
"What does he want? I'm too busy to be handling any errands for now," Ren remarked.
The three then took their time to wait for the carriage to arrive in front of them. It only took a minute or two before the carriage stopped, aligning the door in their faces. The carriage door wildly swung open as Irina violently jumped out from inside.
"Ren-sama! The world is ending!" she screamed.
"Huh?" the three replied with bewildered look on their faces.
A few minutes later, Ren, Karis, Kurumi, King Galen, Galen's wife-Iris, and Irina all gathered at the gazebo. A table of light snacks, and drinks was laid out for the visitors by Karis herself as a sign of hospitality.
"I do apologize for the sudden visit, but it's urgent," King Galen began.
"Let's skip the formalities. Get straight to the point already. Also, how come you went here by yourself instead of just sending a letter to me like last time? If you went here on your own, then it must've been days since you left the capital," Ren replied.
"Well, it's related to that. This is going to get quite long so bear with it."
King Galen took a sip of the drink offered to him, and cleared his throat as he began to state his business.
"Ok here's where it all began. A few days ago, I was out with my family on Warspite for a small tour to check the development of the city. Then suddenly, something strange happened. There was this strong earthquake that struck the city. With Warspite being a coastal town, there were some strong waves that hit the dock, and almost made it to the main street. There were also some strong winds, and the skies were getting dark. It was as Irina claimed earlier, it seemed like the world was ending."
Ren recalled his experiences days prior. After the battle on the Western Archipelago, he took it easy for a while, barely leaving the comforts of his own home. The only time he did leave was when he bought those sack of fruits as temporary food for his refugees. The fruits were bought from Warspite, and as Ren remembered that event, something came to his mind as well.
"Come to think of it yeah, Warspite seemed different when I went there a few days back. I thought a storm just recently hit and thought it was natural. So it is something worse?" Ren said, recollecting the sceneries of a Warspite which seemingly just survived a natural disaster.
"I went around the nearby towns, and noticed that the earthquake had hit them as well. I also sent a letter to Phoros who was staying at the capital inquiring about the matter, and it was as I thought, the earthquake was felt there as well. As a final confirmation, I sent a letter to Midas and they were hit as well," Galen continued.
"Well, it must've been a large earthquake if it hit Sahnper as well. What's the problem with it?"
"Don't you find it unusual that an earthquake was able to hit three far away cities with seemingly similar intensities? Phoros, and Midas described the earthquake in their letters, and their experience was quite similar to us on Warspite. Not to mention--" Galen trailed off as he took another sip of the drink after talking for so long.
Ren waited patiently for the king to continue but before he could, Irina stood up and slammed the table with her petite hands.
"The ocean suddenly sank!" she said out loud.
"The ocean... sank? What do you mean?" Ren asked.
Seeing that her daughter was about to say what he was about to say, Galen continued on sipping his drink, letting his daughter finish her words.
"I saw it! I saw it myself! I was at the dock, and then... and then... the ocean suddenly went lower. The ships at the docks were being brought along too! They were sinking!" Irina said in a kind of hysterical tone.
"Calm down, are you sure that's what happened," Ren said, assuming that Irina was losing her mind and had to be calmed down.
"It's the truth!" she insisted.
Ren turned his head to Queen Iris, and King Galen who both replied with a nod, confirming that Irina's hysterical tale was in fact true.
"It's hard to believe, but the waters around Warspite did went down in level. Initially, I thought it was a sign that a bigger set of waves was coming and had the entire city evacuate outside the main gate, but it never came. A ship that had just set out days before came back and reported that it felt like the ocean went down for them as well," Galen said, supporting Irina's claim.
Karis, and Kurumi exchanged glances as if saying that they were thinking of the same thing.
"A ship? Is it the boat that sent us to the Western Archipelago?" Ren muttered.
"What? You went to the Western Archipelago?!" Galen repeated out loud what Ren just stated.
"Yeah. We fought, and defeated the remaining forces of the warring demons there."
"What?! You mean, you've defeated the demon lord?!"
"More or less, yeah..."
"Umm... Ren?" Kurumi suddenly called out. Everyone in the gazebo turned their glances towards Kurumi who looked like she was about to say something.
"What is it?" Ren asked.
"I um, I might be wrong here but... I think you're the one that caused the things that they stated," Kurumi said hesitantly.
"Me? How come?"
"This topic might get a bit sensitive, and bizarre for everyone here... Would you mind?"
"Go ahead. It's fine," Ren said, giving his permission to speak about the matter.
"Well, remember when Karis-san... well um, yeah, died..." Kurumi began.
Ren felt his heart skip a beat as he was suddenly reminded of that tragic event which left a permanent scar in him even up till this day as he was reminded of it.
"What about it?"
"Well, you kinda went a little bit berserk back there you know? All of the things the king, and Irina-chan mentioned, they also happened at the island, in fact it was probably the strongest there. Also, we could feel it as well after returning here. It couldn't be a coincident right?"
"Wait, wait, wait, there were a lot of things that I don't get," King Galen replied to Kurumi's small theory.
"Don't bother thinking about the details but basically, I fought something there that made me go berserk, and I might have been the one who caused those disasters. I'm beginning to recall it now as well. I now understand why the ocean level suddenly sank."
"How?"
"The Western Archipelago... I blew it off the map, along with the surrounding waters. The ocean probably sank because it leveled itself to fill up the massive hole I left behind over there," Ren explained as he remembers the sight of the battleground after his fight with Baracciel.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" the king screamed. Iris, and Irina almost choked in their own drink as well after hearing of Ren's actions.
"It was an intense fight ok? I lost control of my powers and removed that entire region off the map."
"YOU'RE EXAGGERATING RIGHT?! THERE'S NO WAY--"
"I deleted that entire region," Ren repeated, insisting his claim.
"What kind of monster did you fought for you to deal such a devastating amount of damage... to say that your fight was felt all over the world would be no understatement..."
Galen couldn't help but feel in awe once again of Ren's power, and then fear struck him suddenly.
'He wasn't lying when he said he could destroy my capital.'
'What if that was us?'
'Just how powerful are you!'
Such thoughts rose within Galen's mind as his fear of the hero that they summoned was rekindled once again.
"Hmm, I almost forgot about that ship that sent us there, good to know they made it back okay."
"Yeah, I'm glad, there were quite a few demons on board there as well."
The three exchanged casual conversations while the royal family were still left speechless. They were reminded once again that this was the guy who made a mess in their castle and humiliated their knight order the day he was summoned.
"Oh, by the way, don't bother looking for that knight of yours called Lo-laur--something. He defected to the demons but was killed on that war as well," Ren added in after remembering the fights that occurred that day.
"R-right..."
"Wait! What about the people living there? There were a few inhabitants on that place right? What happened to them?" Irina butted in.
"Oh, don't worry about them, they were evacuated before the worst happened," Ren answered.
"Really! That's great! So, where are they now?"
"Oh, they're over there, I was kinda forced to let them live here so here they are," Ren pointed his hand over to the area where the villagers were living. The royal family saw a bunch of villagers working on digging some tunnels near the beach, and a few ones watching them from far away.
"..."
At this point, King Galen had lost any words to say.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Act 2 - Revelation
"I can't believe it, you just went and took in a whole village's worth of people into my territory just like that?"
"Hey this wasn't my idea. These two ganged up on me and basically forced this whole thing onto me."
The whole crew at the gazebo went and checked the working villagers the moment King Galen noticed them. Seeing as how Ren's land was still basically under his jurisdiction, he needed to be knowledgeable of whatever was happening in it. A bunch of refugees from overseas wasn't exactly something that he would have expected when he went to visit for the day.
Ren led the way as they walked through the ongoing development. Queen Iris, and Irina watched as the people worked hard, digging a network of tunnels which led to their settlements. The villagers on the other hand looked in curiosity as they worked.
The crew went and followed the working tunnel, emerging into the agricultural, and residential area of the land. The royal family watched as the villagers went about their day. Some were working at the fields, tending on the plants, while there were others who were doing some housework. Children also went and ran around, playing, chasing each other within the small clearing.
"Well this is most unexpected... if I remember correctly these are the folks from the Western Archipelago right?" Galen asked to Ren as they proceeded to walk, followed by the curious stares of the villagers.
"Yeah that's right."
"You turned those lunatic zealots into this?"
"More like forced them to yeah. They're pretty cooperative so far so I'll let them live for now."
Just then, as the group were going around, sightseeing, an old man approached them with an inquisitive gaze.
"My lord, might I ask who are these fancy-looking people?" he asked. It was the old man who was the previous chief of the villagers until Ren had assumed leadership of the lot.
"Hmm? These are the royal family that rules the country we are in. Have you heard of the Ironblades?" Ren answered.
"ROYAL-- SO THIS MAN IS--"
"Yes, the king of this nation."
As soon as Ren said Galen's title, the old man went and prostrated in front of the two in a flash. The nearby villagers who heard, and noticed the old man's action went and followed his example, gathering in front of the crew.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, O' great king!" they chanted altogether.
"Might we be of any service to you?!" the old man asked in an overly nervous voice that it sounded like he was choking in his own spit.
"It's fine, you go and continue what you were doing. I'm just here to have a look," the king spoke, exuding his benevolent aura to his subjects.
"Are you sure? Do you not want us to serve you with anything at all?" the old man asked again.
"I said it's fine, I'm just here to-- hahh, Hero I can't handle these guys. Do something about them, will you?"
Ren let out a long sigh as the king asked him for help. It seemed like the villagers' overly zealous behavior cannot be removed that easily. Ren went and stepped in between Galen, and the prostrating villagers to mediate the situation.
"Alright, you heard the king, go and make yourself scarce. You wouldn't want to annoy him would you? Stand up now and go do whatever you were doing."
Ren gestured his arms, prompting the people before him to stand from their position. As commanded by their current chief, the villagers slowly got back up on their feet, exchanging small talks as they do so.
"If I may, chief, can I ask you something?" one of the villagers spoke out.
"What is it?"
"This is the king of this country right? How come you two look like you're close to each other?"
"You want me to answer this, or would you like to save your reputation?" Ren said to the king, directing the question over to him.
"Ahem. Well you see, me and your chief right here, we have a bit of a mutually benefitting relationship. I provided him with this land right here, and listen to his little requests, meanwhile he can lend us his strength whenever needed for a fair compensation," the king answered as he thought of how to word his response properly. He couldn't simply say that his entire kingdom was at the mercy of Ren, but he couldn't degrade himself as well as the ruler of an entire nation.
"Ohh, so he's like a mercenary?"
"Not exactly but I guess you can put it that way."
"Well? Satisfied?" Ren asked.
"Yes! Very much so. It is quite assuring that you have connections with such great people from high positions."
"Hmm. I guess it does have its perks. Anyway, run along now. Just let us be."
"As you wish!"
On Ren's command, all of the villagers turned their backs to the crew and went on with their day as told. They still went and gave out some occasional glances but they did their best to not bother the royal family.
"I didn't know you have such great management skills, hero. This is quite the surprise indeed," Galen remarked as he observed the ongoing development of the area.
"You're giving credits to the wrong person. It was Karis that thought of all of these. I'm just the one putting her plans into action," Ren replied.
"Karis? Your wife? You're familiar with developing a small town?" the king asked, directing his sight onto Karis.
"Yes, I am quite familiar of the said field. I have put some time into studying it from the books I've read, and referencing my late father's works."
"Hohh? Was your father some sort of big shot in your land?"
"Yes he was. After all, he was the previous demon lord, before my brother."
Everyone froze in their tracks. Galen, Iris, and Irina stared wide-eyed at Karis who casually just said something that was quite a significant piece of information. Meanwhile, the two person who were familiar with her identity gave her a look of disbelief.
"DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT! YOU-- YOU'RE RELATED TO THOSE DEMON LORDS?!" Galen screamed, catching the attention of the nearby villagers.
"Oh dear, I seem to have said a bit too much. Well, it doesn't matter, the war is already over with the defeat of my brother. I no longer have to hide anything," Karis giggled, seemingly not bothered by her own revelation.
"You just had to talk don't you? Good grief," Ren said as he placed his palm over his head.
"Does this mean that Karis-san is like the demon princess?!" Irina asked.
"My, I like the ring to that. Better than demon lord."
Galen took a few steps towards Ren, with a slight look of anger painted on his face. He seemed to have forgotten the fact that he fears the young man.
"Hold on! How long have you known this?!"
"Hmm... I think around the time when I've helped you repel that siege at the capital. Yeah, I remember it right. After I've wiped out that demon army stuff happened and I became aware of her identity," Ren recalled.
"Then, why didn't you tell us about this?!"
"I see no reason to."
"No reason?! What if she were to suddenly turn on us! Knowing you, you'd most likely side with her!"
"Karis wouldn't do something like that. Didn't I tell you before? She was aiming for coexistence, not subjugation," Ren said, his tone sounded like he was getting fed up of the king doubting his wife again.
"It is as he said, I wanted to break away from the chains of tradition of our kind. Our warring history shall be put behind us, and we will strive to live a civilized life here in this world," Karis declared.
"And what if the day were to come that humans and demons were to clash again? Which side will you be on?"
"I've said it many times already, but I won't get tired of saying it again. I will always be with my master's side," Karis, once again, showed her unyielding loyalty.
The king pretty much expected this answer already, but he still couldn't help but worry for the future. So many what ifs rang in his mind regarding the future of his country, or even the world, with them sharing it with the creatures that they fought before.
"Hahh, I forgot how stubborn you two can be. However, this isn't just something I can ignore. Let's discuss this back at the gazebo. We're attracting quite a lot of attention here," the king proposed as he led the way himself to the center of the lake. His family quietly followed with Ren, Karis, and Kurumi trailing slightly behind.
"What was that all of a sudden? Announcing that you're related to the demon lord out of nowhere," Ren said in a volume only the three of them could hear.
"I'm sorry but I can no longer deny it. The war is over, and so is me hiding my identity," Karis replied.
"I can't deny my connections to my family any longer," she added.
"Yeah, but there could've been a better time and place to say it. Oh well, whatever happens after this, let's just see how it goes."
________________________________________________________________________________________
Act 3 - Decision
"Now, then..."
After a short tour through the developing town of Ren's territory, the group went back to the gazebo where some leftover snacks from earlier still remains. Queen Iris, and Irina sat down and refilled their cups with the tea that had cooled down quite a bit after being left for a while.
Kurumi went and refilled King Galen, and Ren's cups but they didn't bother touching their drinks as the tension grew between them.
"Hero, I was able to let go of the fact that you're with a demon for some time now despite still not trusting them. However a demon lord's relative is a bit too much for me to accept," King Galen stated.
"It's not like we need your acceptance though. We could live with or without it," Ren retorted.
"That may be true, but you're in my territory. There's a limit to how much freedom I could give you. If my judgment tells me that my country would potentially be put in peril, then even if it's you, I wouldn't stay quiet."
"Why start with this now? Haven't you known each other for quite a while already? Does knowing that she's a demon lord's daughter already changed your perspective of her that much, despite how much she's helped you?"
"I said she may be a threat. A potential risk that is living in my kingdom. How can I be assured that she won't attack us in the near future like her family did. It's easy for you to trust her since she's your wife, but try to look at things my way. I can't risk the lives of my citizens. Moreover, if she were to be the threat I feared she was going to be, the blame would be put to me."
Ren leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms as he did so. He gave the king quite a menacing look.
"Then what do you suggest we do? Are you suggesting we move out of your country?" Ren asked.
"Unfortunately, even if I did wish for that, you wouldn't have anywhere to go. There's no other kingdom that will accept you," Galen answered.
"Oh? So you still want us to stay? I don't get you."
"Well, I've been thinking of this for quite some time now. It's going to be quite the questionable decision but it's the best possible way."
"Spit it out," Ren said as he started growing impatient of the king's roundabout way of speaking.
"Alright then. To summarize it, I will relinquish a portion of my territory to you, and let you rule it as its own sovereign," the king declared.
The sudden announcement made everyone else at the table give the king a surprised glance. Irina almost choked on her drink again but was able to cough it out easily.
"Huh?!" however, out of all the people involved, Ren was the one in most disbelief.
"By giving you your own land to rule with, I will no longer be concerned with whatever you do with it. All of the responsibility shall be yours to shoulder."
"Wait a second! I wasn't asking any of this! I have no interest of being a ruler!"
"Then don't be a ruler and make it an anarchic land. Do whatever you wish with it. I'm sorry but I couldn't let my country shoulder any more of your actions. If you wanted to do anything, then do it by your name. The Ironblade's name shall not be affiliated with your actions."
"But!"
"We accept it."
Before Ren could complain any further, Karis butted in and decided to speak up. She stood strong as she made her strong declaration towards the king.
"Karis..."
"It's fine Ren. I think it's about time we stand on our own feet. This is a great opportunity for us to prepare a home for my kin to live in once they migrate here. We can't keep forcing the king, and his country to continue accepting my fellow demons for my sake. So please, accept this offer for me," Karis pleaded as she grabbed Ren's hand, and showed her begging expression.
"Karis, I can't run a country. That's too much for me," Ren replied.
"You don't have to. Same as with the villagers you can be the ruler by name only, but let me handle the running of things. It's my responsibility anyway since I keep forcing all these things onto you."
"Still... this may be a bit too much for us to handle all of a sudden. I mean we recently just took in a whole town of people, going straight to country level is going to be..."
Karis leaned in closer before Ren could continue.
"Believe in me! I promise you I will make our land a prosperous country of humans and demons! I assure you! Just give me ten moons time to work with!" Karis pleaded strongly.
King Galen waited patiently as the two make their decision. Everyone else silently watched while savoring their snacks.
"Ok, ok, just give me some time to collect my thoughts. I also need to ask a few questions to the king before I come to an answer," Ren said as he gently lowered Karis' hands and turned his sight back to the king.
"Ask away. I'll answer as much as I can."
"Ok first thing, how much territory are we talking about here? I want to take a look at what we're working with here."
"Sure thing. Do you have map?" Galen asked.
Not wasting another second, Ren quickly opened a small gate, similar to the ones he used to summon his weapons, and pulled a rolled up parchment from within. Galen was already familiar of Ren's quirks so this little spectacle no longer surprised him.
Ren spread the parchment on the table with everyone else putting aside the cups, and snacks to make space. As the parchment opened, a map of the whole continent was shown etched on it. Ren also grabbed a feather, and a box of ink from his storage space and placed it next to the king.
"Alright, so to start things off, you have this mountain range..." King Galen said, drawing a circle above the area on the map where Ren's owned land is.
Surrounding the mountain range was Sahnper to the east, the blue seas on the west and three countries down south. Ironblade's capital was situated northwest of the encircled area.
"I'm thinking of giving you this much."
King Galen drew one long stroke that ran around, enclosing the mountain range area with the southwestern portion of Ironblade's total territory. The provisional territory of Ren's land shared borders with two of the southern countries, along with a western coastline that connects the land to the sea.
"I was thinking of giving you the whole southern portion, but we have important trade routes at this southeastern sector that I can not surrender. There are also some villagers over here as well so I can't simply turn over those people to you. This area that I've marked out has been quite neglected since we don't really have any raw materials to harvest here so I doubt there would be any issue if I were to give it up to you."
"This is quite a huge land mass," Ren remarked.
"It's mostly barren lands, with some wildlife and greenery. Feel free to do what you want with it."
"What do you think Karis?" Ren asked, turning his head over to his wife who was inspecting the map as well.
"Mmm... yes, I think this should be enough to house my people!" Karis exclaimed.
"Eh? Really? There's that few of you?"
"Not really few... but well, compared to the population of this world, I guess we are small."
"Well? Will this do hero?" Galen asked.
"Assuming that I did accept this, how are you going to explain this to your people, not to mention the other kings as well?"
"Your concern is understandable, but the solution is quite simple. First of all, those two countries you share borders with aren't exactly on friendly terms with us so they won't care at the very least, in fact they might find it pleasant that they no longer share a border with us. As for my people, well, you did defeat the demon lord right?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"Well, wouldn't it be nice if the king that summoned the hero that defeated the demon lord, and ended the war that has been going on for a long time, would be generous enough to reward said hero his own piece of land?" the king smugly replied as if he had just said something incredibly brilliant.
"That's the story we're going with?"
"Yes. The general public is still not familiar with the demon lord's defeat. We can announce that along with the rewarding of the territory to you. We can work out the details later, but for now, let me hear your decision."
Once again, Ren leaned his back on the chair, and began thinking carefully of the offer. He gave Karis a quick glance who was expectantly looking up at him, awaiting his decision. Everyone else's eyes were on him as well.
'A larger land, along with a country... Karis would be taking care of the running of things but it's inevitable that I help out every now and then as well. Also, he said there's no raw materials usable in the land given to me, however that may not be the case since the level of technology of this land is still quite low so they may not be familiar of any possible materials...'
Thoughts began gathering in Ren's head as he made his decision. He used all of the knowledge that he had, from his experience in his old world, the knowledge he inherited from the hundred-year-old mage Phoros, and the knowledge from additional books he read in his free time.
After a long pause, Ren let out one long breath as he finally made up his mind. He turned his eyes to Karis, and let out a smile, which made the girl smile as well, knowing what the verdict was.
"Fine. I accept," he officially announced.
Karis leapt towards Ren, wrapping her arms around him as she gave him one long embrace of happiness.
"Congratulations!" Iris, Irina, and Kurumi all clapped their hands as they cheered for Ren, and Karis.
"Well, it's decided now," Galen remarked.
"Now that you've given your answer there's no turning back now. In ten days, I'll be holding the ceremony to officially recognize the forming of your nation, and the celebration of our victory against the demons. I expect you to show up in the castle by then," Galen said as he stood up from his seat.
"Ten days huh? Ok then, we'll be there, just try not to make it too extravagant."
"No can do, don't expect a ceremony of such importance to not be so fancy. It's a celebration for the victory on a war that decides the fate of our world. Expect sovereigns from other countries to arrive on the venue as well."
"Whatever. Do what you want."
"Good, well then, we should be on our way now. Iris, Irina, let's go."
"Need a fast ride home?" Ren offered.
"That would be appreciated. Thank you."
Iris, and Irina then stood up from their seat to follow Galen back to the carriage. Ren, and his family stood up as well as they followed them to send them off. The driver, who was waiting for the royal family to arrive, went down from his seat, and opened the carriage door for them.
Irina got in first, followed by her mother, and father.
"Ten days. I'm expecting you to show up okay? It would be appreciated if you arrived a bit earlier though."
"Yeah, yeah we'll show up," Ren replied as he began walking ahead of the carriage. He opened a gate just in front of the horses that connects to the walls outside of Ironblade's capital. The driver, who was already familiar with the scene, then whipped his horses to slowly walk towards it.
"Bye bye! See you in ten days!" Irina shouted, waving out from the window. Queen Iris leaned in and gave a silent wave as well to say goodbye to Ren's family who were standing behind as they watched the carriage go. Karis, and Kurumi returned the gesture with smiles on their faces. Soon enough, as the carriage was fully on the other side of the portal, Ren closed it down, and finally, the three were left alone.
"Well, you heard them. We got ten days to get ready."
"Thank you, Ren," Karis said, once again showing her gratitude to her husband.
"I don't know anything about running a country, but I'll help you two out as much as I can!" Kurumi strongly declared.
"Well, let's just see how things go from this point."
________________________________________________________________________________________
Act End - Homecoming
After the king's visit, Ren went back to managing the villagers on the development of their settlement. Using Karis' proposed plans as a guide, he led all of the villagers who were able to do labor for him. As the digging for the irrigation system proceeded, Ren was busy building a water wheel to bring the flow of the water upwards since the settlement was slightly elevated.
Just then, as he was busy doing his build, Karis approached him from behind, carrying a tray of what seems to be food for lunch.
"Ren, lunch is ready," she called out.
"Ah yeah, thanks," Ren replied, standing up from his position and grabbing the tray from Karis' hands. He took a look at the food served to him, seeing two sandwiches, and an apple. He smelled the fragrance of freshly cooked meat from the sandwiches, stimulating his appetite.
"Thanks. By the way, where's Kurumi?"
"Oh, she's currently handing out the workers' lunch."
"I see. I'm still amazed how she could interact with them normally. It's like they don't have any history."
"Kurumi-san is a strong girl mentally. Don't you think it's wonderful?"
"Yeah, but her mental fortitude is too strong to a fault," Ren said as he savors his food, taking in small bites of his bread while conversing with his wife.
"You're going to be a king now. Aren't you interested?" Karis suddenly asked.
"Not at the least. My plan to have a quiet life just went up in flames. Hahh, the things I do for love," Ren sighed.
"And I will forever be grateful for it," Karis smiled.
"Yeah..." Ren said as he turned his head away to hide his embarrassment though it was useless since Karis could tell that her husband was blushing to his ears.
An awkward silence fell between the two as Ren continued eating his lunch while Karis just happily watched him. Just a few minutes later, Kurumi showed up, noticing the strange atmosphere brewing between the two.
"Oh? What's happening here?" she asked, oblivious to the two's sweet time alone.
"Nothing. Don't mind it. So have you finished distributing the lunches?" Karis replied.
"Yeah. I went straight here cause I was wondering what was taking you so long. I thought you two were going at it again but it seems that wasn't the case."
"I'm too busy right now to have any fun time. I need to finish this before tomorrow," Ren said as he placed the tray down and went back to his project.
"Tomorrow? Why the rush? You have anything important to do tomorrow?" Karis asked.
"Huh? Oh right, well I was planning to head to the demon realm to fulfill my promise to your brother. Also, I think it would be good to let your brethren know of the circumstances here don't you think?"
"Wait! We're heading there tomorrow? Isn't that too sudden?"
"Well, we have ten days before the celebration so I'd like to get this over with before that since I think I'll be busy from that day onwards. Besides, aren't you running out of time as well. When is it that the inevitable end of the demon realm will happen?"
"Honestly, I don't know the state there since I haven't been over there for quite a long time. I just assumed it wasn't that serious yet since my brother was still taking his time in this realm."
"Hmm..."
"Think about it, if the end of the demon realm is coming any soon, he would be aggressive in his subjugation. However, he seemed to have some spare time planning how he should continue with the invasion," Karis explained.
"I guess that makes sense. However, there's no assurance that the state of your world wouldn't change for the worse in a set amount of time. It's better to check now, remember, the demon lord is dead, and his remaining family is over here. So let me ask you this, who is taking care of things back there?"
"My brother left his most trusted aid to look out for things back there."
"Aid?"
"Yeah, Lilith, she is a beastfolk whose family line served us from way back. Although as beastfolk she was easily influenced by my brother's actions so I don't know if things are being properly taken care of back there."
"Influenced eh? Now I'm interested in meeting this Lilith," Ren smiled.
"Well, as for me I'm not looking forward to meeting her," Karis said as she brought her arms close to her shivering body.
"Why? You seemed a bit creeped out," Kurumi asked.
"How could I not be creeped out, that girl has an extreme obsession for me. She would always touch me with those creepy tentacles of hers whenever she gets the chance. Brrrr!" Karis replied, violently shaking her body.
"Sounds rough," Kurumi said, empathizing with her fellow wife.
"Well, you're gonna have to meet her sooner or later so I suggest you prepare yourself. You have until tomorrow to pull yourself together, we'll leave at dawn so we have time to prepare for the celebration."
"Yeah..."
After the short exchange, Karis, and Kurumi went off and left Ren to continue with his work. They wandered around the ongoing irrigation project, seeing deep tunnels get dug, and connected to the upper tunnels leading to the village. There were some workers who were enjoying they're break. The resting workers saw the two ladies walking past and gave them a short wave to which the two returned the gesture.
"Looks like we'll be going somewhere far again."
"Yeah, it's been a while since I've gone back home. I wonder how much has changed."
"Karis-san what does your world look like?" Kurumi curiously asked.
"Honestly, the last time I've been there, it's in quite a terrible shape. The view is not something I can brag about, but our people survived despite the odds. However, we can only go so far. If I were to seriously preserve our kind, looking for other worlds to live in is really the only way. Our world had passed the point of no return."
"That's terrible. I can kinda see the purpose of your brother's aggressiveness."
"But still, it didn't have to go the way he did. And now he suffered the consequences of it. He had a good intention, but a bad way to execute it."
"What's your plan with your people for now?"
"First, I'll have to let them know of the circumstances up here. It's going to take a lot of explaining, but I'll do it as much as I can. Not to mention, I don't know how Lilith ran things over there so worst case scenario, I might need to be a bit forceful."
Their conversation came to a halt as they found themselves in front of the bridge to the gazebo. The two proceeded to walk towards it, heading deep into the floating building. They went inside the Nexus where they see the map of the world hanging on a board.
The map had been altered a bit, following the recent events. The place where the Western Archipelago was once before had been crossed out entirely. More blood points had been setup as well after Ren explored the world for some time to look for resources. The two girls stared intently at it.
"So, how do we get to the demon realm?" Kurumi asked as the two were inspecting the map.
"First, we'll have to go here, the territory that my brother had taken over..." Karis answered, pointing her finger to the northern part of the continent, just above Ironblade's territory.
"My brother's palace is located here, and in that palace is where the portal to our world is located," she added.
"Do you think we'll run into some trouble there?"
"Probably. The nearby countries must've started recolonizing that place. I just hope our trip tomorrow will go smoothly."
"It's fine, we've got Ren on our side."
"Yeah, you're right."
Memories of Karis' travels came surging back into her mind. From the day she left the demon realm along with her family, the journey she went through to escape her brother's grasp, and the fateful meeting she had with her now master, and husband, Ren. After years of being away, she's finally going back to where it all began.
"Let's go..." she said with an excited tone.
"Off to the Demon Realm!"