78 Introductions (3)

The prince and his guard politely bowed to the famous spirit of Greenwood City, with the former speaking kindly, "It is an honour to meet you, Lady Khloe." The latter

Seran smiled a little, "Khloe, these two will be living in the city from now on, so I wanted to have them meet you before settling in. Of course, wherever the Chimera siblings are, I'd like them to meet as well."

Khloe quirked an eyebrow sceptically, "You didn't go doing any funny business, did you? You tend to do rather abnormal things whenever you leave." She could easily say that everything he did tended to be abnormal at times, but that would be a bit much... maybe.

"I might have... Andrew's my first disciple now and I've managed to secure the assistance of Barnett for an important continental matter."

"That, right there. You did something crazy again. What on earth happened this time, for you to rope in the Western Continent's legendary guardian's assistance?" While the surprise of Andrew becoming Seran's disciple was quite good, the absurdity of his latter statement utterly crushed the former. Even with the unusual standards that she'd managed to make into a baseline for her understanding of the young demigod, Khloe still couldn't process this new information.

After a long, exasperated sigh, Seran began to explain what Khloe desired to hear, beginning with his accidental discovery of the strange phenomenon in the ghost town of Polypheme Sect territory, then his conversations with Johann Juneau, then with the incumbent Emperor Valinor, and finally with Founding Emperor Barnett 'Starsword' Eridan. Once all of his narration came to an end, he sighed a second time, "It'll be about a month until the Juneau Clan's investigation team arrives, so we have some time before things get moving. I'd like you to mention this to Lady Demeter, as I'm unsure if she has learned this already from Barnett."

Appearing to be nursing a headache but suffering through it due to being unable to move without waking her animal friends, Khloe grumbled, "You're going to kill me with the sheer number of shenanigans you're capable of... I'll pass it on, but I'm not sure if she'll respond for a while."

"Understandable... Ah, also, I think Lady Demeter would want to hear this even more than what we just talked about, though she might know already. The tomb of the last Fairy Prince, Assassin King Eric Astheme, was discovered in Blood-Bone Cemetary. I had to exterminate an Elder Lich that had taken up residence there. Currently, only I, Leo, Andrew, Rexus, Valinor and Barnett know this, and we agreed to keep it from being known indefinitely. As the Fairy Race was one of the two beloved races of Her Ladyship, I'm sure she would like to know that his tomb has been cleansed of evil."

Khloe's eyes flickered with a combination of surprise, again, and tacit understanding, "I see. She would indeed wish to know that one of her fallen champions' tombs has been purified... That can't be all, though, knowing you." After enough time dealing with young Seran, the spirit had learned that very few things related to him were ever simple.

Though he didn't wish to mention this with the present company, Seran sighed and asked the two listeners to keep this secret from absolutely anyone other than the four of them. Only once he received confirmation did he continue, "The Elder Lich used miasma-based magic that bypassed my magical immunity. As it was completely undead, it couldn't use divine magic, so only one possible method could exist. From my analysis in battle with it, that Elder Lich used the Sixth Devil King's miasmic magic."

Only with great willpower did Khloe not lose control of herself and jump to her feet as she shouted, "WHAT!?" Thankfully, Seran's wind magic had isolated her voice. "You're certain of it?"

"Absolutely. The Elder Lich even confirmed it personally. Only the Sixth Devil King's miasma was capable of devouring all life and converting it into the caster's power. I have no idea how or why it was in the Assassin King's tomb, but I know it wasn't good." Seran only had conjectures for the reasons to his questions, which weren't enough to be used. One of his guesses was that the Sixth Devil King desired to corrupt the Assassin King's body into a devil corpse, which would serve him eternally. Most of the devil corpse's original abilities would be voided due to the need for devil mana, which it did not have, but its combat prowess would remain unchanged. Considering Eric Astheme's strength, even without his original abilities, he could trounce anything against him. Seran summarized this thought for the spirit before continuing, "From a brief investigation of the tomb as I left with Leo, I can tell that, if that was his goal, he failed due to the residual magic left behind by the Mage King Harlequinn Juneau and the first Oracle, Amelia Libelt. The crest of the Sword of Hope also bore the blessings of all eleven major gods, so it would require at least 3 Devil Kings to break through all of that protection. Based on that, Eric Astheme remains untainted."

Khloe sighed in relief, "Thank the heavens. If I had to tell Lady Demeter that one of her beloved champions was corrupted into a devil corpse, I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle the amount of power that would come from her rage." After a few moments of silent thought, the nature spirit spoke again, "I will tell this to Lady Demeter immediately. I recommend you come back in a few days, I'll have to focus a lot of power to pass this on as quickly as possible." She smiled politely to the two new residents, "My apologies for not being able to speak more with you. I truly hope you'll enjoy your new home here."

Andrew and Rexus bowed a second time, stating that it was understandable given the circumstances, and the former pledged to visit when he could. Only after this did the three visitors leave Khloe to her new business, descending the hill towards a large tunnel on the eastern slope of the city's central hill, intending to visit the three Chimera siblings in their dens.