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"My lords, the prisoners are waiting right below our foot within the underground dungeon," said Lilith.
?
"Thanks, Lilith," said Ervas with a mild smile.
"Good, let's go meet them! You're coming with us bud~," said Veronica, as she carried Albert's soul, crying, and roaring in anger.
"Unhand me at once! Let me rest in peace, you monstrous beings! You play with the death as if it were child's play! You are playing with forces that you cannot fathom! You and I are lowly mortals, how dare you interfere with the work of Gods like this?!" roared Albert's soul.
"Because we like to," said Ervas.
"Eh?! Y-You…!" roared Albert.
"This is the first time I see a soul being so rebellious against Ervas and Veronica…" said Anna.
"Oh, that must be because their Death Attribute Charm, although strong, might not affect him completely. After all, they have to be charmed by the concepts that they embody as well… And all of that might be not enough for those that are such strong believers of Bestellen, someone that completely contradicts what Ervas and Veronica embody," said Kireina.
"Oh… You mean like… Their Charm doesn't affect completely those that don't believe in what they teach or are?" asked Ismene.
"Kind of… Well, he is still being slowly encroached anyways, the combination of both Ervas and Veronica's Death Attribute Charm plus their Dominate Undead and Govern Undead Skills are too strong, Albert might bark all he wants, but he will end up being a loyal dog at the end… Fufu," laughed Kireina.
"You… I am not being… encroached by anyone!!!" cried Albert.
"Amongst the ones that surrendered, there was someone named Percy Miller… Is he related with this Soul, named Albert Miller?" wondered Lilith.
"Eh?! My son! Percy… surrendered?!" asked Albert.
"Yeah, because he is more intelligent than you, it seems," said Veronica.
"It was a good decision, after a slight reeducation and a few Soul Parasites, we will let them join us as servants," said Ervas.
"R-Reeducation…?! S-Soul… Parasites?! What are you going to do with my son?!" asked Albert.
"What? Would you prefer for him to die?" asked Veronica.
"Ah! I…" muttered Albert.
"Don't worry, three foods a day with a lot of water, a clean bathroom, and new clothes are guaranteed," said Ervas.
"…Eh?! You're still enslaving him!" said Albert.
"It's not enslavement, it's making them our servants, it is a different thing altogether," said Veronica.
"Indeed, we don't like to slave people here, that's horrible," said Ervas.
"You're clearly contradicting yourselves, that's clearly enslavement! Let my son go free! He is innocent!" said Albert.
"Blah, blah, blah," said Veronica, mocking Albert's constant babbler.
"You dare mock a holy paladin?!" roared Albert, trying to do something to Veronica, but he was completely powerless.
"Ah, we are here," said Ervas, as the large army finally came back to the Igni kingdom, which was fortified with an even larger Golem-Wall structure, which created a kind of a dome.
When the war ended, the dome opened and revealed the beautiful scenario inside of the city, with people walking around, enjoying dinner with their friends in several restaurants, little kids playing around, and so on, startling Albert and many other Souls from fanatic soldiers, templars, or battle popes that were also resisting a bit.
"This place… What is this?! This doesn't… look like some kind of tribe!" said Albert.
"What kind of place is this?"
"Is this really a city?"
"In the middle of the Devil Forest at that?!"
"Unbelievable…!"
"How…?!"
"Do you like it, guys? This is our city, and our Kingdom, the Demon and Beast-kin Kingdom of Igni…!" said Veronica.
"Did they really thought that demons and beast-kin couldn't build a civilization? How stupid are humans?" asked Ismene in disbelief.
"Indeed they are very idiotic and unpolite… Except for Jason," said Anna.
"Haha, don't worry, there are bad and good humans, the same thing for demons or beast-kin as well," said Jason.
"You! You are a human! Why are you serving these monsters?! Are you a slave?!" asked Albert.
"A slave…? No, I am actually the King!" said Jason with a proud smile.
"T-The… The… The KING?!" asked Albert.
"He's my father, so I made him the King," said Ervas nonchalantly.
"Although I really don't do any King-like activities, that's still done by Ervas and Veronica…" said Jason with a gentle smile.
Albert and the other rebellious Souls were left in disbelief, as they were grasped by Ervas and Veronica's power and forced to follow them, the group was greeted by many people, all of them being beast-kin and demons of all shapes and sizes, they all seemed happy and were almost impossible to be seen as 'malicious' as the church always depicted them.
Because the fanatic had always raided tribes of beast-kin and demons and killing every single one of them, very few times had they see them being themselves other than fighting for their lives against their irrational attacks.
Little children ran through the streets happily, mothers carried their infant babies and males smiled happily, crossing their arms as many of them were now wearing better clothes crafted by themselves and Ervas and Veronica's subordinates… aside from the differences in their appearance, they looked just like humans in a human city…
But they seemed even happier and fulfilled, it seemed that the conditions of the Igni Kingdom were way better than in the Sapphira Duchy, where many poor children roamed the streets, many criminals stole things from even poorer people, and more.
Aside from the few streets made for royalty and aristocrats, the rest of the duchy seemed to be shrouded in poverty…
However, every single street within this city was shining brightly, as if it had been recently cleaned, and every single person was well healthy and carefree.
Albert noticed many workshops, where these people crafted items, furniture, and many other things.
There were also many restaurants and food carts selling recently cooked food, filled with people buying and going to their workshops and other areas.
There were also many people training physical skills and magic, and even some were building statues of… Ervas and Veronica.
"Oooh! Those statues are going pretty good!" said Kireina.
"We told you to not ask them to make them…" said Ervas.
"Yeah, it feels embarrassing!" said Veronica.
"But it is needed! You need some kind of monument of yourselves that can gather the prayers and beliefs of your people, this way, you will be able to earn daily Skill Points and EXP more easily," said Kireina.
Around the statues being constructed, Ervas and Veronica noticed Mysticia, one of the Raccoon-kin chiefs alongside many other fervent followers of the Ervas and Veronica religion, commanding how to craft the structure.
They also quickly bowed to Ervas and Veronica, as Mysticia congratulated them for the victory which they were already confident of.
"T-There is even a religion… about this Demon King?!" asked Albert.
"Indeed… Sooner or later, you shall also prostrate to your lords and fervently pray to them, fufu…" laughed Lilith.
"Eh?! N-Never…! You fiends… If there could be a way for me to communicate this with the High Priest and the Duke… or even the King!" said Albert.
"Alright, alright, time to shut up, we are here…" said Veronica, reaching the castle as the group towards the underground, where the scenery and atmosphere changed slightly.
"This feeling…" muttered Albert.
"We are in a Dungeon," said Ervas.
"A Dungeon, this small?!" asked Albert.
"Yeah, we can create Dungeons, by the way, courtesy of Araba's soul snack," said Veronica.
"Eh?! Eeeeh?!"
Albert was ed through the vast underground, although it was not as big as an actual dungeon, only being a single room which was rather big, where alongside many alchemy materials store, there were also a large number of cells, where many people rested inside.
Amongst them, there was a boy that Albert noticed, he seemed tired, and was barely keeping himself awake.
"Percy! Percy!" cried Albert, floating towards his son as Percy couldn't hear him.
"Eh?" asked Percy, glancing at Albert.
"My son! Why did you surrender? You should have escaped!" said Albert.
However, Percy didn't notice Albert, but the group of people behind him.
Albert fell into silence as he glanced at the people walking in with fear, as Ervas and Veronica stopped right in front of Percy.
"Oh, is this Percy Miller?" asked Veronica.
"He is… He said that he was part of a family of knights and something around those lines…" said Lilith.
"That must be him, Albert is going all crazy," said Ervas.
"Why can't my son see me?!" roared Albert.
"You're a simple soul, idiot, normal people cannot perceive souls/dead spirits," said Veronica.
"A-Ah…! P-Please don't kill me!" cried Percy, kneeling.
"Don't prostrate yourself in front of them, Percy!" cried Albert.
"He can't hear you bud," said Veronica.
"Percy, your father wants to talk to you," asked Ervas.
"My father…?!" asked Percy, as he thought that his father might have survived, his eyes filling with a bit of hope.
However, Veronica waved her hands as she used the Death Attribute Spell 'Visualization', making Albert's soul visible to the normal eye.
Percy was then startled by the phantasmal and wailing figure of his father who had an enormous wound all cross his body, seemingly as if he had been sliced in half!
"Percy, don't keel for these monsters! What about the honor of your family?! Percy, stand up!!!" roared Albert.
"F-Father?!" asked Percy jumping off the ground and almost hitting the wall behind him out of pure fear.
"Yes, it's me! Percy, fight! You must escape! Escape from them!" roared Albert, talking things that seemed to not make sense, he was already becoming insane.
"What?! Father, this is all hopeless, we all were massacred, and I do not even stand a chance against such powerful people…! And you also got killed! You are a mere ghost now! Stop talking nonsense!" cried Percy.
"Aaaahhh…! Nooo! Noooo!!!" cried Albert, agonizing as his son said the truth that his insane mind was clouding.
"Phew, what a nice father and son meeting…" said Kireina.
"Don't worry, Percy, we are good people. All of your necessities are guaranteed, we just want you to cooperate with us," said Ervas.
"Cooperate?" asked Percy in disbelief.
"Yeah, like spitting out any info you got and stuff," said Veronica.
"S-Sure thing! I will spit everything!" said Percy while trembling, if he had a chance to survive, he wanted to grasp it!
"What are you saying, Percy?! I never taught you to be such a coward!!! Do not answer their questions! Don't dare tell them what we know!" cried Albert.
"Shut up! You are now dead, and it is not like I even cared about you in the first place! I was always the lowly son that was only a servant of the Duke, why would I even care what you think at this point, even now that you are just a floating ghost?! I don't care about honor or whatever, I just want to survive!" said Percy, leaving his father in shock.
"Well said!" said Veronica.
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