Jason was currently flying over the demon continent and was headed in the direction where Nero and Diana were currently present.
This time, he had control over his body and had to guide himself with the help of the clues that occasionally popped around the place.
'This is starting to feel more and more like a choices based story game except instead of choices, I have to find clues.'
[ how do you even come up with such imaginations? ] The system couldn't help but ask.
'You have known me for about ninety five percent of my life and you are still asking that question? You should know by now that I am a very creative person.'
[ I hope your words weren't influenced by what Nero said. ]
'If I go by that, I am both creative and brutal since I am a half-demon. What do you think about that, Hestia?'
[ Hmm? Yeah, I agree. ] Hestia replied absentmindedly.
Both Jason and the system noticed this but they didn't say anything. It was easy for them to tell that Hestia was thinking about something important.
Otherwise, the guardian was mostly paying attention to whatever they said, occasionally giving her own opinions to it.
'I guess we are nearing the capital city. The amount of cities and towns we have crossed seem to be decreasing the further ahead we go.'
[ You do know that it doesn't necessarily mean that we are heading towards the capital city? ]
'First of all, the royal palace is always situated in the capital. Second, from what I know about the demon king, isn't it obvious that people would want to distance themselves from him?'
[ That… makes sense. ] The system couldn't battle with Jason's logic.
'Let's just keep heading forward and we will see whether I am correct or not.'
Jason continued to look for clues in this manner and an unknown amount of time passed. After following half a dozen clues, he finally saw a city in the distance.
'What did I tell you?' Jason asked with a grin.
Towering in the middle of the city was a huge palace made from a black metal. Numerous runes were etched in it and shone brightly.
Since it was early morning, the sunlight reflected on the runes and made them look golden.
However, the other buildings were far less eye catching. In fact, the number of buildings present inside the city were quite less.
[ You were correct about people wanting to distance themselves from the king. The population of the place is extremely low in comparison to even our town. ]
'You just get this type of brain once you have read countless fantasy novels. Anyways, let's head towards the palace. That's where the next clue is pointing towards.'
Jason flew towards the palace and took a close look at it. It was smaller than what he had imagined yet it had its own touch of uniqueness.
After roaming around the entire palace once, Jason located the clue at one specific corner of the palace's western walls.
Upon touching the white light of the clue with his right hand, he flew down towards the entrance.
The demons standing guard paid no attention to him as he flew inside the palace. The interior was designed in a similar way and had a royal vibrant feeling to it.
Jason noticed that very few people were actually present inside the palace, which was surprising considering how most palace had an abundant amount of workers inside it.
[ There is a chance that they remain hidden until and unless someone calls for them. ] The system stated.
Jason shrugged and continued to observe the interior of the palace. He soon entered a grand room which was definitely the throne room.
A huge throne made from the same black metal stood at the northernmost point of the room. Sitting on a throne was a rather shabby looking man in his mid twenties.
He had curly black hair which currently gave him a bed-head look. His eyes were a deep shade of red but except for them, nothing about the man stood out.
He was dressed in a simple pair of black shirt and trousers with a normal coat on top.
Compared to him, the two people kneeling on the floor looked much more impressive. They were naturally Nero and Diana.
"Greetings, Lord Lucius. I hope my inabilities weren't that troubling for you." Nero courtesied.
"Not at all. It should teach you a lesson about your smugness. Diana also showed that human king that his ambitions will definitely lead to his downfall." The man on the throne, Lucius, answered.
Diana's face lit up with a smile once she heard the comment. "Thank you, Lord Lucius."
"You both can drop the lord part already." Lucius sighed. "I am not the previous demon king. You both already know that I don't care about titles or powers."
"We know that but what you want to do has never been done before," Diana pointed out. "Finding true peace is not that easy."
"I know, Diana. I tried to gain peace by preaching it and I also tried to achieve it by gaining power and enforcing it yet neither of those worked. True peace will never exist unless people change.
The first step for that is to remove the stereotype people have. Though our race has some pretty trash idiots who firmly believe in the brutality and cruelty part, most of our population is pretty nice and calm." Lucius sighed.
He stood up from his throne and moved his body a bit. Simultaneously, Nero and Diana got up from the floor and joined Lucius.
All three of them started doing basic exercises. If someone looked at this scene, they wouldn't have been able to tell that these three demons were some of the most powerful figures on the demon continent.
"Lucius, do you think that if we change the others viewpoints, we will be able to bring a change?" Nero asked slowly.
"You have known me since our academy days, Nero. You were just a commoner and if I told you that you would become one of the demon commanders all those years back, would you have believed me?" Lucius asked with a smile.
"No, I wouldn't have believed it. But you didn't give up and made me change. You also changed a lot of the others in the academy which lead to majority of the demon families actually supporting you…" Nero replied.
Both of them shared a smile before Lucius settled on his throne. Nero and Diana snapped their fingers at the same time and summoned smaller versions of Lucius's throne to sit on.
"I believe anyone can change. Its just a matter of whether the person himself or herself wants to change." Lucius finished.
"Speaking of that, I got some pretty interesting things from the human continent. I think both of you will be interested in hearing them." Nero smiled.
"Let me gather the rest of the five sins and the remaining demon commanders. Diana, would you go tell Fel that things are good to go now?" Lucius asked.
"As you wish, Lucius." Diana winked before vanishing from her spot.
"Lucius, I think you should also know that the Syrward family now hates you." Nero blurted out the moment Diana was gone.
"Thats expected considering how we tried to kidnap their child officially. The first one was pure misfortune considering how I sent you to scout on the demons belonging to the rogue demon families." Lucius sighed.
"I understand that having that child is the only way of breaking Evelyn free from the curse but can't we just ask Astryn and Fel to help us?" Nero questioned.
"We can't. The thing about curses is that the limited number of people know about it, the better. The curse on Evelyn is an adaptable one. If someone anyone leaked the information about Jason being able to cure her, things would go ballistic.
After all, she is still the priestess of Hestia. If someone gets hold of her, there's no knowing what will happen to this world." Lucius sighed.
"If only things weren't this complicated and we could explain things to others." Nero sighed too.
"My friend, thats why you are the only one I shared this information with. We do need to help Evelyn since I have a feeling that Julian Vancouver will make a move in the future. We can't let him have that child under his control.
If he manages to get hold of Evelyn, then its over for us. He will be able to fulfill his dream of world domination…" Lucius paused. "Its during times like this that I wish Michael was here."
"He is still alive, isn't he? Even if all proves of his existence vanished, it was never confirmed whether he died." Nero commented.
"Nero, Michael might be alive and well but is he really alive? Except for Jason Nightshade, there is no proof that he existed. Can you call someone like that alive who most people in this world don't know existed?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel