A Pleasant Exchange
The two men, the new king and his most trusted admiral, were stunned and shared a glance between themselves. Even Shi stiffened up slightly, not expecting Deon to immediately begin acting like they were all old friends, as if the war from just now was nothing, as if they new king's attempt on his life didn't mean anything!
Deon was someone who enjoyed the thrill of battle and killing, but oddly enough, he never held any hatred towards his enemies. On top of this, even though he loved to battle, Deon would not allow this side of him to get in the way of the big picture.
If the peaceful option was more beneficial towards his pursuit of strength, then he would take the peaceful option.
"Miss Shi, please explain yourself." The bearded king didn't immediately respond to Deon, only sparing this smiling demon child a meaningful look, before turning his gaze towards Shi.
Shi had already prepared her explanation. She needed to be careful with her words, this person was her current employer after all.
"As I said in my letter, the core objective of my job is to ensure that you remain in this position of power for another 6 months. Given Deon's power and the army under his command, I could neither capture him, nor could I prevent him from taking action here today. Since it was assured that your relationship with the Fan King was going to be ruined either way, I made the decision to assist Commander Deon in achieving an overwhelming victory, giving up on our alliance with the Fan Kingdom and instead focussing on defeating them."
The bearded king furrowed his brows, but he couldn't find any real fault with her logic there. Whilst this wasn't at all what he wanted, it was most definitely in Shi's own best interests, given the contents of her contract.
"So your aim is to drag out this war for 6 more months whilst keeping me alive and in power, before you collect your reward and abandon this hopeless conflict?" He asked dryly.
'Well, yes, pretty much…' She thought.
"I will do my utmost to ensure that the Kingdom of Restari is in an advantageous position against the Fan before my contract ends." She replied politely, avoiding responding directly to his question.
Deon was stunned.
'So she can actually speak like a competent person after all?'
Towards Shi's annoyingly polite response, the king glared at her and almost growled.
"You know damned well that we can't defeat the Fan Kingdom! Not unless my moron brother somehow doesn't kill himself whilst ascending to the rank of 3-Star at least."
Deon blinked. He wasn't sure what he was expecting from the new king, but this…this scruffy looking, boisterous and violent man certainly was not it. It was actually a nice change of pace, it was different compared to the usual military men he was accustomed to dealing with.
"Actually my king…" Admiral Adbar's eyes shone as he stared at Deon with clear admiration. "Perhaps victory isn't as impossible as we once believed."
The bearded king's expression changed. He glanced at the admiral and his eyes also lit up when he turned back towards Deon.
Deon smiled faintly, this was what he was waiting for. Even though he had screwed over the bearded king, the man had no choice but to invest in Deon now!
"You mean, perhaps this kid could become a big enough boost to our military power to defeat the Fan?"
"Mm." The admiral nodded lightly.
"I've never seen, nor even heard of such talent before. Tell me brat, how long ago was it that you first became a shaman?"
Deon blinked and thought back. It had been…well, he'd actually lost track of time.
"Two years maybe…less than three for sure."
The false kings eyes nearly popped out when he heard this.
"Are you serious? How?!"
"Luck?" Deon titled his head and answered.
"Bullshit, what damned luck could possibly help you go from a mortal to a 2-Star shaman in under 3 years?! I assumed you just had severely stunted growth or something, but are you seriously just a kid?!"
"Uh…" Deon wasn't sure what to say. After thinking it through, he came up with an answer that wasn't a lie.
"My body underwent the shaman transformation at 10 years of age, so I guess I'm technically still a kid…"
They seemed to just assume that Deon didn't like being referred to as a child, but really, he wasn't sure what his 'age' really was. His body was indeed just 12 years old, whilst his origin soul was merely two years old.
As for his mortal soul, it had lived for many years in the underworld trial. A mortal soul had a limit of 1,000 years, so he was at least younger than that, but beyond this upper limit, Deon really had no idea.
"Ahem, anyway, king…" Deon coughed and made the two staring men straighten up as they realised that they had gotten side tracked. Even Deon was caught off guard…these two were definitely not what he was expecting.
"I have one thing I want to know." The bearded king became serious for a moment as he regained the bearing of a king. Even if his personality was a bit strange, Deon supposed that he needed to possess this ability to act, since he managed to weasel his way onto the throne.
"Please ask." Deon nodded.
"Just what is it that you want out of all this? I've done some investigating into your background, but I can't find anything…all I'm sure of is that you aren't from this kingdom. Why fight for the Kingdom of Restari, why care so much about this war? With your power and talent, you could have easily left this place as soon as things were looking tough, so tell me, why?"
Deon stared at the king as he pondered.
He considered making up some random lie, such as wanting to stay due to his love of this kingdom, but he knew right away that this man wouldn't believe it for a second.
Perhaps he could just answer that he wanted to earn a higher position and social status, but if he was going to give a selfish answer, he may as well just give the truth…maybe he could profit more if the king knew what he actually wanted.
"Resources."
They waited for him to continue, but that was all Deon said.
"That's it?" The bearded man blinked, glancing at the admiral again.
"Mhm. I want resources, spirits and refinement materials."
"But why focus on this war? There are thousands of ways to earn money." The false king pressed.
Deon laughed and shook his head.
"Because this war has been so profitable that it would be a shame to end it, don't you think? I've been earning more and more with every passing day, keeping up with my progress as a shaman. And now, I'm a 2-Star shaman…"
Deon paused, turning around and looking at the upper third of the mountain, the portion that was limited to 2-Star shamans, where 2-Star spirits were endlessly more abundant.
"We're just about to reach the best part of the war, why the hell would you want to stop now, king?"
When Deon turned back towards him, the bearded king saw that desirous glint in his eyes. The burly man finally cracked a broad smile.
"You're one of those types, huh. A crazy demon that loves the thrill of high-risk high-reward type business. Haha, I guess I do understand, I was like that too once…"
"We both were." Admiral Adbar sighed with a nostalgic smile.
"But you lose your appetite for that sort of thrill when you get older and talent dries up." The king finished.
"Mm." The admiral nodded, agreeing completely with this sentiment.
Deon was once again stunned. He finally realised why it was that he felt these two were different compared to the other shamans he had met. It was the same difference that Shi displayed compared to these other people too..
They were all demonic path shamans!
However, the king and the admiral were demons that had lost their drive to follow the demonic way.
Deon now understood why the new king had decided on this rebellion, this scheme.
In his youth, the rapid progress he experienced motivated him to continue taking risk after risk, but eventually, his talent grew dry and the risks just weren't as profitable any longer. So now, he just wanted to rule over a mortal nation. This was basically the highest position of power he could attain with his talent and strength. No matter how much he struggled as a demon, he would never earn more than this nation.
The bearded king scratched his head, then let out a long, irritated sigh.
"Fine then! It's not like I have a damned choice at this point anyway. Shitty brat, you actually spread news throughout the kingdom that this entire thing was my idea! I tried to make up with the Fan King earlier, I explained that this was all a ploy created by you and Shi-"
"Hey, what-"
"But he wouldn't listen." The king sighed and shook his head, paying no mind to Shi, who felt startled that she had been thrown under the bus so casually.
"Mm, naturally he wouldn't believe that a 12 year old child managed to ruin your three year plan, defeating not only your schemes, but even multiple 2-Star shamans." Deon laughed.
"So you're aware of the absurdity of all this then?" The bearded man stared at him.
"I'm well aware…but everything worked out, right?" Deon's smile brightened.
"For you maybe!" He snorted. "Now I'm forced to continue fighting against that tedious 3-Star Fan King, and I really have no choice but to invest my all in the very same brat that ruined my perfect plan, the plan that would have allowed me to live a comfortable, peaceful life as a king!"
"Hahaha!" Deon laughed and nodded repeatedly. "Exactly! I'm glad we reached an understanding."