Time to brush up on my diplomacy skill. Hopefully I can pull this off, this chapter is going to be the set up for a significant portion of the future plot of this story so let's get into this!
Oh, I should probably say that the Green Party has grown significantly since the start of the story, this means that the team's mages(not counting Megumin of course) has quite a few more spells now. Just explaining ahead of time.
3rd person POV
"This is excellent tea." Pandora complimented as she sipped the steaming brew. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect such a warm reception from the enemy leader. Or second in command?" That had always been a matter of debate ever since All Might entered the scene. Izuku was the only other candidate but ever since the blonde arrived it was thrown in question.
"Thank you, it's a hobby I picked up over the years. And neither actually. I'm just a humble hero who looks after this city, Izuku's the one that deals with the country's issues for the most part." He replied with a hint of pride in his voice. He was more than happy to semi-retire, especially when his successor did a better than fine job of replacing him.
"From Japan I assume. Such an interesting place, even more so with these.. 'Heroes' is what you called them? I see that the gods have finally started taking us seriously if they sent such powerful warriors from a different world than usual." The usual reincarnates were powerful sure, but they were usually incompetent. What else could you expect from a bunch of otherwise regular people plucked from their world's and sent into a completely different one?
Since she'd arrived at their mansion Pandora had been treated with respect and courtesy. A kindness not often afforded to the losers of a war. Oh yes, she had no illusions over the fact that her country had lost. Even with their remaining army(which wasn't anything to write home about) they could do little without their powerful generals. Not to mention…
"So Vanir-san became a beaurocrat? Honestly it doesn't surprise me, he was always the type to do as he pleased, even if it made no sense at the time." What surprised her more was the fact that Wolbach of all people was enamored by the enemy leader. Granted she had never met him so she couldn't judge but he couldn't be 'that' impressive could he?
BANG!
Switch to Izuku POV
"Did you really need to break down the door Aqua-chan?" I asked the goddess that joined me on my walk back home with an exasperated voice. After facepalming as is customary when being around Aqua for more than 20 minutes I noticed that we had a new guest.
The intricate dark armor was rather eye catching but her facial features immediately caught my attention. She was a platinum blonde, her hair being nearly white in color, though slightly darker than Eris' pure silver. Her face had aristocratic features though it was her eyes and teeth that told me exactly what she was.
"I'm telling you Izuku-kun, I sensed a powerful undead on our way here! Hey you! With the pink eye! How did you get into our house with the barrier surrounding this place?!" She screamed at our guest while pointing at her, though her target just kept sipping tea nonchalantly.
Regardless I gave Aqua's head a good chop to calm her down. "That's enough of that Aqua-chan. First of all I got rid of that barrier a week ago remember. Otherwise Wiz-chan would never be able to visit us. And second of all, apologize to our guest. Undead or not pointing at someone like that is rude." I scolded, making her grumble before she begrudgingly bowed slightly in apology.
"You're a lot more polite than I expected, though with Yagi-sama's show of hospitality that's my own fault. It is an honor to meet you Midoriya-sama, I am Pandora Sanguine I have come here today as the last leader of the Demon King's army in order to formally surrender to you and Yagi-sama. I would like to begin negotiations as soon as possible." She finished, stating her purpose before bowing deeply once again.
"Ah… I see." That was all I could really say, who the hell would expect this! And why did she surrender to me specifically and not Belzerg itself?! 'There are too many questions here. I should gather everyone else before we do anything.'
About an hour later, in the kitchen.
"So...What caused this surrender all of a sudden? Not that I'm not grateful for the chance at peace of course!" I wanted to know exactly where we stood. The more information the better, Iris was of a like mind on that. Speaking of which she was currently sending Pandora one of the frostiest glares I've ever seen.
"It's not so difficult to understand Izuku-sama. We've simply lost the war. In every way that counts. Our army has slowly but surely been eroded by the armies of Belzerg. Our economy was never that strong to begin with, and now that you've shown how far behind we are technologically we'll be crushed in that area too." She explained calmly, and with a hint of amusement at our question.
"Furthermore you've single handedly killed, converted, or otherwise incopassitated six of our generals, the only hope we had of fighting the veritable monsters in Belzerg's royal family." Ok that was fair, thinking about it the fact that a 14 year old like Iris could hold her own against legendary monsters and other experienced adventurers was pretty ludicrous. That's not even mentioning her father who could probably rival All Might in raw stats...For now, the jury's still out if he'd rival a fully healed All Might.
"There's also the fact that a good deal of our own citizens view you as a hero for your destruction of the Destroyer, an existence that has plagued the world for centuries, including our own side." Right. I'd almost forgotten about that one. My brain must have been blocking it out to forget the ungodly pain I felt from breaking every bone in my body.
"There's also the fact that you now have three goddesses working for you. At this point most of the high ranking officers in my army are convinced that the only reason you haven't stormed my father's castle yet is because you were genuinely merciful and wanted us to surrender."
Well that was better than I-"Or that you were secretly planning to weaken Belzerg and our own country first before taking over both in a bid for eventual world domination." ...Fuck.
"No. Just.. No. I don't want power, hell being a noble is already enough of a headache as it is! Being a king, let alone an emperor sounds like a nightmare!" I denied furiously. Seriously just thinking about it was making my hands numb! All that paperwork would kill me before any assassin could even try!
"I'd be happy to accept a surrender depending on the terms. Honestly I just want to end this conflict as soon as possible." That went without saying, but there was another, slightly selfish reason why I wanted it to end soon. If what I heard from All Might was constant, then if we returned to my world soon then it would only be about a few days, a week at most after All Might died! I could finally return and see everyone again!
"Very well, I believe it would be best for us to begin immediately. First and foremost, we'd like to return the land that was conquered by us as a sign of good faith. In addition we'll be freeing any prisoners of war that we currently have." Those were rather generous. They just lost a good deal of leverage with those agreements.
"However we would like to address several issues that remain ongoing in the world at large which caused our uprising in the first place." That got me interested, with all the chaos I hadn't had the time to look for the actual cause of the war that's been going on for centuries.
"To summarize, we need a solution to the problem of monsters that feast on humans to survive. These species make up a significant percentage of our population and thus are the biggest obstacle to peace." She laid out the problem bluntly. Yeah I can see how that could be a problem… Though not an insurmountable one.
"Do the humans need to be alive? Or birthed naturally? If not then I may have a solution to that problem." It would have been difficult without magic. But with it? It was a simple enough problem to solve with a little bit of creativity.
"No, not to my knowledge. Though I don't see how that could be tested. How else would you make a human other than through reproduction?" Pandora was confused yet interested, hoping that the other worlder had some kind of trick up his sleeve that could solve their problem.
"Replication magic. As well as a bit of cloning." I went on to explain the basics behind cloning technology, how to grow cells in a laboratory, how to make sure said cells stayed alive, etc. Only the bare basics though, mostly because I was a little over my head as it was. I'd need to do more research later. The replication magic would just help speed things up.
"So essentially you want us to 'clone' the meat, blood and such that we need while using replication magic to bolster our food supply. But wouldn't that break the third law of magic?" She asked me, I was confused by that. Laws of magic? It was the first time I've heard that term.
"The laws of magic are rules that limits the potential of all magic...Or they used to anyway. You've never really followed these laws. Honestly I freaked out over that at first but after you explained how things in your world worked along with all those science lessons I've been able to break them too!" YunYun enlightened me. Huh. The more you know.
"So it was a knowledge barrier that caused that. That can be solved easily enough, the Demon kingdom will need to build up or modify their general education to incorporate this knowledge. Hopefully that will be enough to solve the hunger issue." To prove my point I cut my finger a bit and drained some blood into a cup, from there I asked YunYun to cast 'replicate' one of her newer spells to double the amount in the cup.
"You're a vampire right? Would you like to test it out yourself?" I offered earning a shocked look from our guest, along with the rest of the natives.. Did I do something taboo again?
"Are you sure Izuku-sama? Are you aware of what this means?" I shake my head, though I have an idea. "For a human to willingly give their blood to a vampire, and as a noble for that matter. When a vampire drinks blood willingly given it affects us differently than blood forcibly taken." She begins to explain.
"This type of blood gives us a significant boost in power, along with small glimpses into the memories of the giver. This is the main reason why It's nearly unprecedented. It's seen as the ultimate sign of trust...As well as being considered rather intimate" Oh.. OH! A small blush came to my face. Well this just got rather awkward.
"Don't take it the wrong way, I appreciate the thought behind it and I'm aware that you meant nothing of it." She waved off the situation while reaching for the crimson filled cup. She started off slowly, taking a small sip from it but soon after that her eyes widened significantly before she downed the entire thing in a matter of seconds.
"Was..Was it really that good?" I asked, a little uncomfortable with the way she shivered after drinking my blood.
"Oh. Good is a colossal understatement Midoriya-sama. That was the finest quality blood I've ever tasted! The mana in it was overflowing, the type was just right, by the gods even the texture was nothing short of divine!" I.. Wasn't sure how to feel about that. Neither was my party judging from their faces.
"S-So, is that a good enough example of what cloning could do?" I tried to bring us back on topic. Pandora blinked rapidly then coughed into her hand, realizing that she'd lost herself a bit there.
"Y-yes I believe that was more than satisfactory. Well that solves one of the major problems so far. A secondary issue we'd like to address is the treatment of 'monstrous' in general. For our countries to truly coexist we request that our citizens be treated as equals to humanity, especially under the law."
"Done." I agreed, not consulting others on that one. Regardless of the consequences that was a rule I was willing to enforce. In fact I'd already done it as far as Axel went, nobody was willing to argue with him after he announced that all succubi, peaceful undead, and even demons were to be treated cordially whilst living in Axel. The few who even thought about it changed their minds quickly enough with All Might around.
Iris seemed to be a bit nervous at that but allowed it, she knew first hand that it could be done on a city scale, she trusted my judgment. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't going to budge on that particular issue no matter what tried to stop me.
The other nations would most likely try to stop this, grudges ran deep and prejudice ran deeper in this world. Well. They'd try anyway. Not like they had much choice when Belzerg and the Demon King's army had the vast majority of this world's military force backing them. There was a reason why Belzerg was able to hold back the waves of enemy soldiers for centuries.
'Not to mention the fact that All Might and I make one hell of a deterrent to war.' The rest of his party were nothing to scoff at either. Any one of them could take out a small army alone if they really wanted to, albeit through vastly different means.
Pandora was temporarily stunned by my instant answer, meanwhile All Might gave me a neutral look. "I hope you know what your doing young Midoriya. This wont go over easily with the other nations, that being said I'll stand behind whatever you decide." He gave his warning, which was taken with a nod. I knew that it would be risky, but it was worth it in my mind.
"I-I don't know what to say. Other than the cannibalistic monsters that was the most contentious issue I had. To just make that kind of promise so easily.." Pandora slowly recovered from her shock. "I can only thank you, there were several other minor issues but with how generous you have been so far I'm sure that we can leave them for now."
"No I insist, best to have them all in the open now. If they're that minor I'm sure we can deal with them accordingly." She seemed a bit unsure at that but continued at my request. I wanted to get as many issues over and done with as I could. The two prior ones seemed sensible enough so hopefully the rest will too.
"We request the right to spread the faith of our two goddesses Wolbach and Regina." She added, my response was instant.
"Easily acceptable under certain limits. All religious conversions must be willing, the use of force or the manipulation of facts shouldn't be used to trick people into believing something. Of course I'd ask the same of you, allowing the free worship of Aqua-chan and Eris-chan that is." I thought for a moment before adding another clause.
"I'd also request that religious teaching should be halted until a person reaches adulthood. To prevent forceful indoctrination and such." Again my swift answer seemed to have put Pandora on the back foot, thankfully she was better prepared for it this time.
"That is more than acceptable! But are you sure that such a policy can be enforced? Religion is quite the touchy subject among humans." She asked, worried over the feasibility of her request.
"There really isn't much of a problem. All we'd need to do is add a single law. Discrimination based on religion is herby outlawed. SImple as that. It won't favor one religion over another, it will simply level the playing field, removing government favoritism in the process." I'm sure the king wouldn't mind the addition of a single law in exchange for lasting peace.
"As for the policy's enforcement.. Leave that to my party. I'm sure the Axis and Eris cults will be fine with it so long as their goddesses give it the green light. Besides Wolbach-chan is our ally now, I was planning on helping her anyway." The religious issue really was rather simple to solve when you literally had the gods on your side.
"The final issue I'd like to raise is relatively minor. Or at least, I consider it to be. My father has requested to meet you in person, this is by no means a deal breaker but it would go a long way to burying the hatchet as it were." I was a bit apprehensive about that one, meeting the enemy leader like that was risky, then again Pandora came all the way here alone so it would only be fair. One thing still bothered him though.
"Why me? Or more specifically why only me? Shouldn't he also be asking for an audience with the king? All Might too since he and I are in similar positions."And the rest of his party for that matter. A good deal of them had political(Iris, Darkness and himself), military(basically all of them), and religious(Eris, Wolbach, and Aqua) importance to rather large degrees.
"To be completely honest with you Midoriya-sama, our king views you as the face of Belzerg at the moment. No offense meant but the king of Belzerg has never shown his face to us, nor has he done anything of significance since he was crowned. For all intents and purposes you are this country's representative." That.. Definitely put things into perspective. Surprisingly Iris hadn't denied Pandora's accusation. Looking at her for an answer she sighed, trying to collect her thoughts.
"She's not wrong. The common people have grown fond of you, no that's an understatement. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that they practically worship you." Well that was a terrifying thought. That kind of attention tended to lead to complications later on.
"That was one of the reasons that my father was so excited at the idea of us marrying. You'd solidify our position amongst the people along with providing 'strong blood' for the country's future." That part didn't really surprise me, I had read a bit about Belzerg's history and I was far from the first hero to be chosen as a marriage candidate to the royal family. Not that I really minded at this point.
"As you can probably guess we had also planned on giving you a promotion. Expect to be called a Grand Duke in the near future Izuku-kun!" Great.. *Sigh, at least they weren't calling me God Emperor Izuku…I hope.
"As enlightening as this conversation has been, I would like some confirmation from Midoriya-sama if he would like to meet my father or not. Of course his party will be invited, that way the current ruling family will also get a say on the matter as well." She gave her final offer, waiting on an answer.
I took a moment to think about it, sending small glances at the others to see what they thought about the idea. Most of them seemed determined to do it. Iris and Darkness in particular were the most excited by the prospect...For very different reasons if Darkness' blush was anything to go by.
"We'll do it. What time would be best by the way?" I asked, wanting to prepare for it.
"As soon as possible, we'd like to end this war quickly, plus my father has grown anxious in anticipation. Tomorrow or the day after would be best, I even have a group teleportation scroll for us to use." She answered while taking out said scroll, we took a few more seconds to think about it before Iris answered her.
"That will be doable. I'd need to contact my father first however. I'll need his permission in order to represent our family at such an important gathering." Pandora agreed to it, deeming it a reasonable and expected request.
"Since we'll be going tomorrow, possibly the night of, would you like to stay the night Pandora-san? It's gotten rather late." I offered, technically we were still enemies since the war hasn't officially ended, but it would be impolite not to.
"I wouldn't want to intrude but if you insist then I'll graciously accept you offer Midoriya-sama." She said with a bow, grateful for the hospitality. "If I may, I'd like to be shown were I'll rest. Vampires are nocturnal by nature and I'll admit to being very tired from the trip here."
No kidding, I can't imagine what it would be like for a vampire of all things to travel that kind of distance without any magic in the middle of the day. After the others began to leave, wanting to pack up their belongings early, or in Iris' case, visiting the capital herself to ask for permission from her father, I took the time to guide Pandora to her room.
It was a fairly dark place, in fact it was partially underground with the only window there being covered by some makeshift curtains that I created earlier. Appraising her room with a careful gaze she nodded, thanking me. Apparently the underground location was the correct choice, it reminded her of home.
"Rest well Pandora-san. Hopefully this will be the last time we'll meet each other as enemies." I said my good night and headed off. 'That was more awkward than I thought it would be.. It's been another rough week, hopefully it will be the last one for a while now, though I know that's just wishful thinking.' I thought, trying to calm myself down, I'd need all the rest I could get for tomorrow.
There we go, the war is effectively over and all it took was a single nerd's heroic bumbling for about a year. Well that and a demonstration of indomitable military force in the form of two juiced up super saiyans.
Next time we'll be meeting the ever enigmatic Demon King! Hopefully my version of the series' big bad will be remotely original. Or at least funny enough that it won't matter in the end.
Either way this volume of Izuku's story is coming to a close, not to say that there won't be more of course, if you guys haven't noticed I've built myself quite the little multiverse so far. Hopefully I won't choke and have it all fall apart ne? Either way, later and as always have a great day!