The walk to the Throne Room was silent. Layland was putting up his guard against Eliseus but Eliseus behaved like she didn't know what was going on. Layland would have believed her if she wasn't a Demon. Like him, she was a Demon, so he was sure everything she showed him hid some things that she didn't want him to know.
If his guess of her identity was correct, at this point, she should've already figured out he was a Demon King Candidate. The stunt Ilschevar pulled showed his favouritism over him and it should have planted some seed of jealousy in the hearts of the other Demon King Candidates.
Eliseus didn't seem to be an ambitious character; however, it was hard to think that she wouldn't think of Layland as her enemy. Therefore, if she was what Layland thought she was, she would eventually point her sword at his neck someday and he needed to be ready for that.
Thud!
The Throne Room's door was opened when Layland and Eliseus arrived before it. The two Demons immediately entered the room, focusing their gaze on Ilschevar instead of the other five individuals inside the room.
They stopped walking when they were 6 feet before Ilschevar and then bowed respectfully to pay their respect. They got up when Ilschevar told them to and then joined the line of the 5 individuals that were already in the room before them.
"I hope the five hours I gave you were already enough to calm your battle spirit down and recuperate the energy spent on the conquest of our nemesis," Ilschevar said with a smile as he looked at Layland and Eliseus. Gazing over all of the seven individuals he summoned, he continued, "You must be wondering why you are summoned, mustn't you?"
The seven individuals nodded their heads at their King's question. None of them looked at each other in confusion, nor did they speculate; they planted their gaze solely on Ilschevar, waiting for him to explain.
Turning to Layland, Ilschevar gestured for him to come to his side. "Come, Layland. Since it has something to do with you, everyone shall know how you look."
Saying nothing, Layland stepped forward and then stood beside Ilschevar. This was the moment when he could see all of the faces of the five individuals that were already in the room before he and Eliseus did. Out of the five, he was only familiar with two of them. It was his first time seeing the rest but he was sure they were not ordinary individuals.
"I am sure you already know Velucan and Lemius," Ilschevar said, stopping Layland from getting caught up in his thought. "Therefore, I will introduce you to the other three. This beautiful Succubus is Maxine Echebra. This aloof Demon is our Seventh General, Bacchus Evrius. Lastly, this friendly and beautiful Lamia is Decima Viccator."
"Greetings, Eighth Wing Warrior Layland Kleinhaus."
"It is nice to meet you, Layland Kleinhaus. You look more impressive than the rumour describes you."
"I have heard a lot about you Warrior Layland--what a pleasant chance to be able to work together with you."
Each of the three greeted Layland in interest. Layland couldn't tell what they had in mind but they didn't show any malicious intent at the moment.
"It is nice to meet all of you too. My name is Layland Kleinhaus and I hope we will be able to work well together," Layland introduced himself respectfully. It was the norm to repay respect with respect.
Ilschevar clapped his hands once, gaining everyone's attention. "Now that you already know each other, it is time to let you know why you are summoned. In short, you are here to be officially pointed as Layland's coworkers."
The room turned deadly silent as soon as the words were uttered. The atmosphere became thick as the tension filled the air. Everyone looked at Layland with a quirked eyebrow and Ilschevar with an inquiring gaze. It wasn't clear if they were dissatisfied but they were surely bewildered.
Being in the centre of attention, instead of minding the people's gazes, Ilschevar observed the look Layland had on his face. The young Demon was unfazed, indicating that he knew something like this would happen. He wondered what Layland would do and it made a smile creep up his face. Things were going to be interesting in the future.
"Antares will be the new home for hundreds of thousands of our citizens. I am confident in Layland's ability but it is a ridiculous notion that he will be able to manage everything by himself," Ilschevar explained.
"This is supposed to be his mission, you may argue. Yes, you are right; therefore, I gave him the hardest task which is to manage all of you. Together, under his leadership, I expect all of you to excel. I will be happy if Antares can become the second Verniculos in a few years."
The six Warriors standing before Layland and Ilschevar looked at each other without saying anything. They observed each other's looks and were surprised to find none of them annoyed. It wasn't clear if the betterment of the Kingdom was the motive but they were willing to help Layland. Of course, their willingness would only remain as long as he proved himself to be capable of doing his task.
"Let's work together well, everyone."
Layland bowed, awakening the six Warriors from their thoughts. None of them responded verbally but they returned his bow.
"The decision to depart is on you, Layland," Ilschevar said as he turned to the young Demon. "Hadrian and the other humans are still busy carving the Magic Circle for the Magnam Geas but they are waiting for you. You can help them do that or just watch the process and bind the humans of Antares to you when it is finished."
Magnam Geas was the greater version of Geas. It was used to enslave a lot of people at once. This meant that Layland owned the people of Antares on top of having the right to utilize the land for his profit. It brought a frown to four of the Warriors before him. Layland might have done a lot of damage to the Phoenix, yet they didn't think it was impressive enough to get him rewarded with a lot of things.
Still, none of them said a thing. Their King's order was absolute, so they had no right to question it.
"Very well, you can now tell them what to do, Layland. You don't need to ask for my permission to leave the Kingdom anymore--you can leave anytime you want. I do still need you to consult with me before doing something that involves our citizens and Kingdom's sovereignty, though."
"Understood, my liege."
"You may leave."
With a smile, Ilschevar watched his seven Elite Warriors leave the throne room.
Thud!
As the door closed behind them, the seven Warriors stood silently in the hallway as they looked at each other. They didn't bother to hide the fact that they were observing each other. For Layland, he wanted to see who wasn't too amused to be under his leadership. As for the others, they wanted to see which one of them would be the first to question Layland's leadership.
"We will do a lot of things in Antares for quite some time," Layland said, gaining everyone's attention. "Bring the things that you may need and prepare as many Warriors as you can."
"Are we going to have another war? That is not a very good de--"
"We will need them to rebuild the buildings and help our citizens move into Antares," Layland interjected Lemius. "It is time for us to develop our Kingdom and the territories we have managed to seize. We won't fight unless the situation forces us."
"Hoh?"
Lemius quirked his eyebrow at Layland's lack of hesitation to correct him and smiled softly. He could tell Layland wasn't being obnoxious, so he couldn't help but like the young Demon more.
"We will leave tomorrow at dawn. You may now go to do things that you are required to do. Do feel free to ask for my help when you need it. We are on this together, so don't think take my role as your boss too literally."
"Then, we will excuse ourselves to do our things, Warrior Layland," Maxine the Succubus said with a smile. Along with the friendly Lamia, Decima, she left everyone.
Lemius and Bacchus also excused themselves not long after, leaving Eliseus and Velucan with Layland. The two Warriors looked at Layland with glimmering eyes, showing how thrilled they were to work together with him.
"We need to celebrate this, Layland. Let's get wasted!" Velucan exclaimed.
"No," Layland rejected flatly. "We are going to depart tomorrow, so you better prepare everything you need to bring with you."
"Oh, come on! You have been working your ass off since day one. It is time to chill!"
"We will have plenty of time to hang out later. Just wait until it comes."
Velucan lightly frowned but still agreed with Layland. Layland couldn't help smiling lightly at that. The Garou was the only Warrior whose personality he could understand. Velucan was an open book--he was a simple Monster that didn't bother to hide things. He was a friend whom he would defend without hesitation.
Therefore, he hoped things would remain this way. If Velucan turned out to be the best liar of all, his heart would ache as he cut the Garou down.
"I will see you at dawn."
With his farewell said, Layland parted from Velucan and Eliseus to meet the girls. He wanted to spend the remaining hours with them in the Kingdom that he would leave soon.
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