The Kingdom of Zal

[N/A: This chapter is shorter than usual this time because it's a bit like a chapter starting a new "arc". I warn, there is very little dialogue].

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-- POV General --

While the battle was over for Freya and her new subordinates, no one among the humans was yet aware that the world was about to change dramatically. No one knew yet that this change was born in the Dark Forest out of sight and would turn the world upside down starting with the Kingdom of Zal.

The Kingdom of Zal was a very large and prosperous place where humans loved to live and grow. The capital Zalhythe was always cheerful and full of life while the slaves' were miserable and full of blood. The city was very big and surrounded by a thick wall that protected the citizens from all attacks. Everyone felt safe there and no human could deny that Zalhythe was very pleasant. The King's castle was centrally located and slightly elevated so that anyone in the capital could see it no matter where they were. It was huge and its structure rose into the sky and was the tallest building in the entire capital. Many churches were also present throughout the city.

The current King was named Theophylactus Zal and was one of those who had given their entire lives for the Kingdom. He was 55 years old and still ruled his people and territory with an iron fist despite the years that were beginning to take their toll. The King had two sons and a daughter whom he "cherished" more than anything else in the world in his own way, as the Queen was no longer of this world since the birth of the Princess. The first Prince was 23 years old, his name was Erzian Zal, the second was 20 years old, his name was Iolas Zal and the Princess was younger, she was only 18 years old and her name was Alayna Zal.

The two Princes were fighting for the throne and were not on good terms because of the situation and their ideas which differed too much. Erzian wanted to become king in order to expand the territory and make the kingdom a global and super-powerful human nation, which was an ambitious and dangerous project. Iolas, on the other hand, preferred to see their Kingdom become an economic power and therefore concentrate on their already large territory rather than expand it. In this atmosphere stood Princess Alayna, who never left her apartments, always accompanied by her servants but also always alone. She had renounced her right to be an heiress and lived unhappily and reclusively, hating this world and her family for not loving her like a true daughter and sister.

The King in ignorance was not a good father and despite his love for his children he was the kind of person who was immersed in his work and forgot everything else. Theophylactus also preferred to spend his nights drinking in the presence of various women and his days managing his Kingdom rather than living a normal family life. His children were left to their own devices and they only met at official events in or outside the castle.

Behind the facade of a happy family, loved and admired by all the people, there was in reality a separate family, neglected and devoid of love.

In this Kingdom there was another branch of power just as important as the royalty, the so-called "Church of Humanity". It was not connected with the management of the kingdom, nor with the knights, but its power among the citizens was so great that the Church was considered as important as the royalty. Headed by the Supreme, it controlled all the beliefs of the humans and it would not be a lie to say that in this huge country, hatred towards different races was conveyed and fanned by its members. The Church's adage "All imperfect races are born to serve only one, splendid, marvelous and in the image of the Gods: the human being" was in everyone's heart, so that the mistreatment, hatred and disgust of other races was very natural.

As Freya had learned, the Supreme was a human whose face no one had ever seen, yet whom everyone feared and respected. Some said he was actually a woman, others thought he was an immortal man, but these rumors had never been verified. Most of the time he ruled the kingdom in the shadows, never leaving the church in the capital and always sending his men.

The followers of the Gods were called the "Protectors of Mankind" and only accepted orders from their superiors who were directly under the orders of the Supreme. Over the years, the roots of this parallel branch had invaded the entire kingdom, so that the leader of the Church stood on the same step as the King in terms of influence, which did not please the King too much.

The Royalty and the Church worked together, but tensions arose as time went on because the battle for absolute power in the Kingdom was vicious and was fought in the shadows. The nobles found themselves torn between their beloved King whom they respected and the Church who shared their beliefs and morals.

Unlike the Supreme, Theophylactus did not see half-humans and other races as a threat, but simply as objects and boasted that he could crush any rebellion or attack against his country. This is why he saw the Church as a faction with too much power given their ideas and even thought that hunting these races was a way to scare the people into controlling them. The Supreme, on the other hand, did not like the King's casualness in this matter and saw him as a lazy and out-of-date leader. His priority was to annihilate all dangerous creatures and enslave the others in order to control the birth rate and never again find sub-breeds in the wild. He wanted to raise humans to the top.

Both branches had their own armies, which could not help to ease tensions, as each feared a sudden attack by the other to regain power. On the side of the King, there were the knights who were men and women proud to lend their swords to their country. On the side of the Church, there were the Paladins who dedicated their lives to serving the Gods and tormenting the sub-races appointed by the Supreme. In the end, they were all just puppets, believing they were acting for a noble or divine cause when in fact they were on a giant chess board where their respective leaders were facing off.

All this tension was obviously well hidden behind false smiles, handshakes and official and important meetings concerning the Kingdom. No human citizen had any idea that their relationship was so tense and even praised their two leaders with fervor and respect.

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While Freya was preparing to meet with the prisoners they had freed, far away in the capital of Zal and in the church, an emergency meeting was taking place between three people.

The three of them were dressed in white and gold robes and were in a closed room away from prying eyes and ears. The room had only two large sofas arranged around a small low table where there was a tea set and three steaming, filled cups. There were two men, one tall, one short and one woman. All three had brown hair and all three were protectors of Mankind working for the Gods through the Supreme.

"We still haven't heard from our little mission, what's going on ?"

The little man spoke in a low voice, looking around to make sure no one could hear him. He seemed worried and for good reason, the report they should have received hours ago still hadn't arrived.

"The mercenaries employed directly by his Excellency were all supposed to leave the forest already this morning. I don't know what happened but something must have delayed them. That said, they probably got drunk on the road and forgot to keep us informed."

The woman saw no reason to worry as they were mercenaries and she thought there was no point in knowing what was going on in their heads.

"Let's wait a few more hours and if tomorrow we don't hear from them we'll be forced to notify his Excellency."

As the tall man finished his sentence, chills were already running down everyone's spine before the woman spoke up again with a hesitant voice.

"Umm...do we really need to tell him about this ?"

At her words the two men seemed torn between the answer "yes" and "no". The small brown man then began to shake his head before answering.

"I don't feel like breaking the news to him...you know how much he doesn't like it when his plans don't go as planned. Couldn't we start by trying to work out the problem ourselves ?"

"Mmh that's right, I don't think it's necessary at this point to notify him of the situation. If there really is a problem, I'm sure we can handle it on our own. The sacrifice is due in two months, so we have time to get these dirty foxes to present to the Supreme."

All three nodded simultaneously reassured that they would not have to face the Supreme and his wrath. He was the kind of person who always controlled everything in the shadows like a puppeteer and when a plan didn't go according to plan no one wanted to suffer his anger.

Without knowing it, these three humans, by hiding this information, had offered Freya precious time and an additional delay. It was at this point that the Empress might have been arrested, the ruler and his paranoia towards other races would have pushed him to send men to check instead of waiting stupidly. But these three protectors were not as paranoid as the Supreme and the idea that a half-human could defeat a human was for them totally impossible.

"What do we do if tomorrow we don't hear anything ?"

The little man who was always worried asked this question to his two sidekicks while they looked at him with amusement. The tall man didn't even have time to answer when the woman laughed.

"Hahaha~! Don't worry, if we don't hear from you we can just send someone to check on the place, right ?"

She then turned to the second man to see if he agreed with her suggestion. He nodded as he sighed, unsure if this was the best solution.

"Yes...the important thing is to have everything ready for the sacrifice in two months, we still have quite some time before we can panic. Besides, there's nothing to tell us that there's really a problem, it's possible that we're stressing over nothing."

The three were reassured and smiled thinking they were in control of the situation and keeping the Supreme from getting worked up over nothing without knowing that their decision would be heavy, very heavy with consequences. As the three of them left the room to go back to their duties, a smile was drawn on their faces, delighted to have found a solution to the problem of the moment.

Would these three humans and their silence be the cause of the Kingdom's downfall ? No one knew, but as Freya always says, one small mistake can easily bring down the whole thing.

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FULL STATUS

Name : Freya

Age: 0 years / Mentally: 25 years

Sex : Female

Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult

Race : Major Demon

Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.

Dragon tamer

Ruthless slayer

Level : 32/70

Exp needed for next level: 22 100 / 33 000

HP : 90 000 / 90 000 MP : 45 000 / 45 000

Strength : 340

Defense : 336

Agility : 350

Stamina : 353

Speed : 342

Intelligence : 340

Charisma : 410 (imperial she-wolf)

Attribute points to allocate : 300

Married to: Gaya

Daughter : Shiro

Kingdom (menu)

Subordinates : 133

Humans killed : 148

Elements: Ice / Chaos

Skills (all):

Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)

- Bite of hell (Lvl 5)

- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 5)

- Fighting techniques (lvl max)

- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)

- Demonic aura of the empress (lvl 3)

Defense - Ice demon wall (lvl 4)

- Demonic cloak (lvl 5)

Pain Resistance (lvl 3)

Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 1) - (under condition)

Others - Humanoid form

- Ice creation (Lvl 4)

- Storage of chaos (Lvl 3)

- Devouring chaos (Lvl 4)

- Analysis

- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique

- Telepathy

Passives - Commander (lvl max)

- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]