An unexpected request.

It seems that someone is here. I could feel their presence through my skill and judging by that they got here flying, then they have a dragon with them. Vejetar just said jack was here so he must be the one.

"Who's jack?"

I asked Vejetar turning my head slightly, he was so relaxed, his hands behind his head.

"Jack's the merchant I told you about. The one you wanted me to all here. He's here, outside the castle, I think he might be in trouble cause there are some guards pointing their swords at them."

What the?

"Go help him then!"

This man… he's sitting here so relaxed while he tells me that. And he's still not getting up!

"Go on already! They'll beat him up!"

He just made a very kid-like face and then got up,

"Tch, why do I have to go get him…"

After that, he dragged his feet across the floor, unwilling, and went out of the room, in order to get them into the castle.

"What might that be? Great Velkra?"

Youlias started inquiring about something.

"You know how The Demon Realm is all messed up, recently the castle where the remaining demons were taking shelter in caved in, so they don't have any shelter or food. That's why I'm calling a reliable merchant to handle the bulk of the supplies we'll need."

Youlias seemed quite displeased at that, I know why, he must be upset that I wasn't letting him aid us,

"Why call a merchant when I'm at your service, Great Velkra? Our Kingdom is the center of agriculture…"

It's justified, but yeah, I wanna do something with my own hands.

"It's not that, it's just that I don't want to burden your people for something I want."

Youlias shook his head right to left, seemingly disagreeing with my reason, the nobles were quite stiff at his response to me.

"That would not be a problem, if you were to build a country I want my kingdom to be the one to aid you first. The burden does not matter, we just want to serve you, this isn't something I should say as a King but you are above me, and the people here definitely want to aid you."

So he wants some diplomatic profit. That would be true since it would become a pretty big deal that Diacis was the first Kingdom to acknowledge us, a Kingdom of Magic Races, What people usually call monsters.

But I can't really take them for free. It would be just unfair. Wait… can I pay for the supplies? Hmm… I wonder.

"Okay, but I won't be taking it for free. I would be buying it."

As I made that declaration, the noble's faces became something like 'Oh! She's so benevolent!' just like Youlias had said.

"That is… what I really don't desire but… if you would want that, I would certainly comply."

"That is what I want. I will but them from you, but only the food supplies, nothing more than that."

Youlias seemed to be satisfied with just that so he nodded at my proposal and then called over a man,

"Since we have every Head of the Noble house here, I want them to make a contribution. Every Lord, hurry back to your domains and prepare for the supplies to be sent to… where?"

It seems he still wasn't sure about where to send them,

"To the Forest of Alfera, I'll be waiting there."

"You will personally receive them? I wouldn't advise that…"

Why though? if I'm meant to build a Kingdom, wouldn't that mean I'll have to supervise the matters?

"No. it wont be a problem, we're going to be handling it with the people at Weskin household so it should be fine. And yes, make the supplies adequate for about 3000 people, and for the duration… for about 3 weeks."

Youlias nodded at my decision and then looked at the nobles in attendance.

"You heard Great Velkra. Fix an amount to contribute, under no circumstances is someone allowed to make a contribution that excessive, that is the only reason why Great Velkra is paying for the aid, in order to not put any strain on our Kingdom."

Youlias made thar declaration and every noble stood up with their backs straight. Then they quietly moved out of the conference room, leaving me and my family… Family huh? And Youlias along with Souma, who had dealt with the matters of security and panic outside the castle due to the explosion, alone.

"So? what now, Youlias? Do you understand everything I've told you up until now?"

I asked him in a nonchalant tone since we were alone now. The guards had marched out at the discreet order from Souma, he seemingly understood that we'd want to be alone now.

"Yes. I do understand now… You can sit down now, Souma."

He told Souma to sit down since they were close and answered my question.

"I never would have thought that… this was all hogwash. To think that Demons were in need… But this won't be easy for the people to accept…"

That is already what I thought of. The people have gone through generations, believing that Demons are an enemy of mankind. We can't do anything about their misguided selves but we can only hope that things will go our way.

"What you told me that they were invaded, who were they invaded by…?"

That…

"I still do not know. It seems that the ones who invaded were stronger than demons, wanted to extract their world's mana and succeeded in doing so."

For a moment, Youlias looked up in the air, seemingly to think about something then spoke,

"But what you have said is that there is mana excess in their world. How can it be that they invaded to take mana but now there is even more mana there than the world itself can bear?"

That I did not think about. He's right, if the mana was supposed to be gone, then why is there excess?

"What if they extracted what they wanted and went back?"

Caryl interjected,

"But that still does not clear up the confusion that there is excess mana, normally if, by some means, they were to take a portion and leave, the world would itself go back to normal, but she said that it had gone into ruin due to mana excess, meaning that mana grew through the years…"

This is interesting and upsetting at the same time. Why…?

"Is there some chance that they just wanted to destroy their world?"

As I said that, Anikia gasped loudly.

"There could be… but why would they do it since they have no connection to demons? Or it could be that they were just world-destroying maniacs…"

So this is getting to that they intentionally destabilized the world to ruin it…

I've never asked about this but…

"Anikia, do you remember what they looked like? The invaders?"

I asked Anikia as I turned to look at her, she was just sitting there, listening intently to our conversation.

"Mom… what they looked like…? It's very hazy but… they had horns… like demons but they were bigger and curly… every one of them… and they had a pointy thin tail… like an arrow…"

So… she's saying that the invaders were quite the same to demons but they had tails.

"But wait… There is someone I remember… a lady… she was my mother and father's good friend. Oh no…. Mother and Father often took me to meet her… they said that she was from another world… Oh no… she had… curly horns and a pointy tail… Oh, mother… she was her good friend. The lady also had a catperson with her… in maid clothes. Mother, We had been visited by two women of the same apearance when my father and mother were alive... But they were not hostile... in fact, they were very nice and they even ate with us at the table..."

What the…? What does she mean by that…? She's saying that one of the invaders was her parents' friend?

"But… I think she… might not be bad… one day, she came in a rush, and it looked like she was running away. She asked my parents to help her… and they built a gate… then they sent her through and destroyed it…. After some time or years… the invaders came… with the same appearance… Is this what i think? I am..."

I'm speechless. This is such crucial information. Someone from the invaders ran away through their world and wrapped up demons in their conflict…

"Are you thinking the same thing I am thinking Great Velkra?"

Youlias interjected between, it looked like he also connected the dots. It was very clear from the way she has explained up to now. the friendship, the sudden escape through a gate that her parents built, then being attacked by the invaders...

"Yeah… it looks like their world was caught up in an internal conflict of another world."

"How can you confirm that, Mom?" said Anikia with confusion.

"It's what could be, since there isn't any other explanation, it seems likely but could be something else. We don't know for sure what took place in your world and what connection there might be…"

As we were continuing our conversation, the door to the room opened and Vejetar came in, with a Sharp featured man and a brown-haired beauty in tow. That girl is a Greater Dragon. Her stats are pretty high too…

"This is Velkra the Cel… no that isn't cool enough… Omni-elemental. The Omni-elemental. My sister."

The man took a knee and the girl came pacing toward me and stood in front,

"W-What is it?" I asked her,

Then she suddenly prostrated with her head on the floor.

"Oi! Do something about this, Vejetar!"

I was startled and didn't know what the hell was happening.

"What are you doing, Tetia?" asked Vejetar.

"I'm prostrating myself, in front of the Omni-elemental."

"No, get up! Now!"

I said that in an angry tone and she shot up from the ground.

"What's wrong with you…?"

"It is natural, I had the urge to do so, Great Omni-elemental." She said that weird name again.

"Vejetar! Why'd you give me a weird name?!"

"It's good, isn't it? I like it."

"No! it's embarrassing!"

"Great Velkra… will you give Jack your blessing…?"

The girl asked me with teary eyes.

Heh? What?