Lucas looked at his next targets. The Demon corps.
The slavery problem was mostly taken care of, the demon corps on the other hand had a lot of hate and mistrust against the humans.
They were the warlords the army generals and extremely radical demon supremacists. Not only would they prove to be a problem with the merger with Saforia, they would also pose a lot of trouble and challenges when Diablo would appoint him as successor. As someone who removed all threats before they could even fester, they were of course the next on his list.
Yes, it was no longer 'if' he was appointed successor. Over the past few days he had mostly scared a lot of the businessmen and landowners into submission. His achievements had been recognized by Diablo and Lucas also felt that ruling a nation would be an interesting experience. After all this new world was a new beginning for him, he was young it was the time to try some crazy shit.
However he still knew that till now he had only attacked the 'soft' targets, extremely easy to manipulate. The direct approach was all that was needed for those fools. Those that didn't listen were just killed by Lilith.
Lilith...
That girl was almost as scheming as her father. She may be supporting him now, but as the king's daughter he knew that she would later become his biggest challenge to overcome.
"I will help you if things go wrong but you will have to deal with the next targets mostly on your own."
"Of course Lily, you just relax and watch the show you wont be needed in the next part of purge either way."
One way to deal with her would be to try and seduce her, but it wasn't as if she didn't have similar ideas already. Lucas wasn't interested in going that rabbit hole anytime soon. He had no time for romcoms- he had seen enough to know that the seducers often fell in love themselves. Lucas believed that if he were to ever involve himself in a romantic relationship it would be with someone he completely trusted.
That aside he was indeed telling the truth. There was no need for help this time. These type of people were crazy fanatics and smart people. To control them he will have to do indirect methods, deception, misdirection and subterfuge.
The best way to make them do something, is to make them believe its their own idea. Convincing, trapping and fooling. It was done equally in the dark as in the light and thus it was finally time to enter their circle. As high-level beastmen mercenaries.
----
Lucas and Lilith thus decided to go undercover and apply to the Darkness league. They were highly involved with the demons and the best option.
Lucas choose to pretend to be a member of the wolf clan while Lilith chose- surprise surprise to become a black cat beastman.
Showing the seal of the princess, it was clear that they had connections and power thus the mercenaries didn't ask too many questions and quickly completed their admittance formalities.
Of course after joining your past and identities were irrelevant. They even helped to keep it a secret. It was in fact a taboo to ask about someone's past unless you were extremely close.
The leader of their camp seemed quite pleased with their presence though.
Marvin Darkstorm was a tall broad member of the Black Panther clan. His right hand man, Vesian Grey was actually a demon. The son of a famous demon general. He was a bit too rebellious in nature for the army and thus chose to join the mercenaries for more freedom and fun.
Unlike the other Mercenary camps. The Darkness league was completely loyal to the demon realm.
"Welcome to the camp. You are promising young recruits. As the war draws near we do needed some elite recruits."
"Elite cannon fodder you mean" grunted Vesian nearby.
"Don't mind him."
"The inter-camp meet will be held about a week from now. So I hope you would be able to settle in quickly. The final decisions on the war effort will be made then."
A week from now, that means 15 days left before the war.
There had already been plenty of skirmishes between the armies but the decisive battle's date was already predetermined between the two realms. The battleground would of course be the borderlands. In previous wars both the sides retreated due to heavy losses. However this time a deal was secretly made between the two kings. A war treaty would be sent to the demon realm that whichever side is to loose the war is to unconditionally surrender and merge with the new nation.
An alliance of equals wasn't possible at the moment.
Of course though the words merge are used, the losers would basically choose to be subordinated. Thus the current anti-slavery campaign had massive foresight involved. Also if the winning side didn't have enough power to make the other side accept defeat the treaty would fall apart.
A massive blow to the morale would be needed for that.
Diablo still hadn't told him the details about that. He was planning to retire. It didn't seem something that a winner would do and if he was planning to lose what is the price they would have to play. Lucas had grown quite attached to the old man over his time in the palace and thus couldn't help it when an upsetting premonition came over him.
What was that old fogey planning anyway. Anyways, first things first.
The treaty had to be accepted and the terms finalized at the inter-camp and army war meet.
Thus Lucas only had only one week to make sure that when the time came, all the generals and parties involved accept the treaty.
Shaking his head Lucas cleared his mind of the messy thoughts and bid farewell to the League leader
They left the tent and walked around camp.
"There seems to be something going on, everyone seems restless." Lucas commented.
It could be seen from the body language of most beastmen, something was afoot.
"Of course, News of your exploits has spread over and more and more beastmen seem to be joining the anti-slavery movement. Imagine their feelings if they realized it was all being orchestrated by the next demon lord. It seems that the wheel of change will soon start turning and our worlds will be able to break free from stagnation"
"Dear You give me too much credit. Whenever a world stagnates too much it needs to be given an overhaul. No, actually it is the truth of the universe. Entropy always rises, thus stagnation is only the accumulation of power. The moment this world breaks free from it, there would be a massive boom. The winds of change had already started blowing when you made the decision to summon me, what remains to be seen is whether the this upheaval will change the world for the better or for the worse?"
"Why would you say that?"
"Because." Lucas smiled widely. It was a pure yet simple smile that contained a lot of meaning.
"The rise of Anarchy has already begun..."
------
All the talk about Anarchy and subterfuge reminded Lucas of the old days and their first biggest achievement.
The fall of the Empire.
Yes, That's how the anarchists first made it big.
They began by plotting the demise of one of the word's three biggest superpowers.
The Anganeese empire.
I will bring the flashback in the next chapter. One thing I noticed is that what seems obvious to me might be too vague and hard to pick up without knowing the premise. Thus more flashbacks should help smoothen things out.
Also Since this is my first REAL attempt at writing a GOOD novel, I am still pretty inexperienced. So if you have any problems with the pacing or if you think that I can change or add/subtract something to improve the quality of my novel, please TELL me.
That aside, the first minor climax is at the meet and thus the re-encounter of the protagonists grows even more inevitable.
If you have any suggestions or expectations for this arc, please tell me.
Lastly Thanks a lot for reading. I hope you enjoy.