Chapter 42: A Month Later

A month has passed since my talk with Mai. Since then, I haven't been doing anything besides sitting on my throne.

"My liege, we found a new book that isn't in your library," Seris said, showing me a book with a blue cover.

"Leave it in the library. I will read it later," I answered.

"Bu..." She stopped before bowing and leaving.

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Seris POV:

My liege has been staying in the throne room ever since talking with that human girl.

I left the book in the library and found Mio, "Hey, Mio, it didn't work," I told her, and she frowned.

"It must be bad if a new book didn't work on our liege," She sighed, "And I thought a book about secret arts would work."

"What should we do then?" I asked.

She thought for a while, "Maybe we should kidnap the human girl?"

I shook my head, "No, that wouldn't work. Our liege doesn't want to reveal his identity as Ashborn to her."

"Tsk," She clicked her tongue, "How dare a human girl make our liege sad. I want to kill her."

While I agreed with her, we couldn't hurt her. Otherwise, our liege would be mad.

"That's it. It's time for the project to 'Help our liege get over the human girl v1.4' to begin." She said.

The first version was to ask the Demon Lord Guy Crimson for help but got scarped instantly, and we started forming plan v1.2. That plan was also changed due to not being possible to execute, and plan v1.3 was the book.

I looked at her curiously, "And what is plan v1.4?" I asked.

She puffed her chest and pointed at herself, "I will seduce my liege." She stated proudly.

"..." I looked at her unamused, "Let's start forming plan v1.5 then," I said

Her eyes twitched slightly, "Huh, you don't think I can pull that off?" She asked.

"No," I answered flatly.

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Aiden POV:

I knocked at the door to Mai's room. We rented two inn rooms while staying in the city, "Mai, it's me." I said.

"Leave me alone." Came the muffled response from the other side.

She wasn't the same after one of our team members where killed, and I couldn't blame her. She became good friends with everyone on that team, and I also feel sad about their death, but after she met Cale again... She was grieving even before meeting him, but after meeting him, she locked herself in her room. What happened between them?

Megan also tried to talk to her, but she got the same result as I did.

I wish Cale was here. Maybe he could explain it to me, but I don't know where to find him. After she talked to him, he left the city, and I don't know where he currently is.

"I will leave you food near the door," I said and left the tray of food.

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Mai POV:

What if he hates me now?

No, it was his fault! How can he not see how evil Demon Lord Ashborn is? A Demon Lord must be evil! How can't Cale see it? He is a Holy Knight!

"UUUUUUU..." I yelled into my pillow while rolling around in my bed.

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Cale POV:

I did kill them, but they were the ones that decided to come and attack me. I only defended my property, so I can't be blamed. Should I go and talk to her? No, she is angry at me and probably won't talk to me after what I said last time.

I should stay here until she calms down, and then we will talk it through. If the worst-case scenario, it will be best for us not to see each other again.

I nodded to myself. That will be the best option.

In the meantime, I should name a few more shadows. But which should I name? Mio was a Black Spider, and Seris was a Black Serpent, and I wanted to see if the other animalistic shadows would gain a human form.

After a while, I decided to name a Blade Tiger and a Black Tiger. I brought forth the strongest two, "Now, from this day, your name will be Luca," I then turned to look at the Black Tiger, "And your name will be Ari."

Their bodies got enveloped in a magical cacoon, and their evolution started.

A couple of minutes later, their evolution was complete, and like before, they got a human-like body. They both had the animalistic features of a tiger, but there was a small difference between them. Luca's tail had a sharp blade, unlike Ari, which had a normal tiger tale. Also, their gender. While Luca was a male Shadow Blade Tiger, Ari was a female Shadow Black Tiger.

"Thank you, our liege, for giving us names." They both said in union while kneeling.

"You will both have an army of 500 soldiers under your command. Train them well." I told them while sending 500 Blade Tigers to Luca and 500 Black Tigers to Ari, "Find Mio or Seris. They will show you around the castle."

"Yes, our liege, we won't disappoint you."

While I have given a total of 2,200 Shadows Soldiers to the four of them, it would benefit me so they have a small army if I send them out on a mission or when they need to protect the castle when I'm out.

And while having an army of around 500 isn't much, the shadows being basically immortal makes them a force to be reckoned with, especially with the four of them being at Demon Lord Seed level bordering on True Demon Lord of strength after my evolution. I would say that each one of them, together with their small army, would be equal to a human army of 10,000, if not more.

Then I still have a few years left before Veldora gets sealed, and the monster spawning in the forest will decrease so I can get more soldiers for them.

Maybe I should visit Ramiris and build a new dungeon?

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Author's Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter.

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