[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

Jonathan had never been quite troubled for a while now, as he decided that this day, they would invade and completely pillage and kill most humans and enslave the rest.

Just the thought about it makes him think of something really good. He wants to save Eostia. So why won't he conquer it step by step? And of course, he needed more power.

'Haah... Guess I have to let go of a few moral codes of honor I have kept for a very long time since I was a teenager.' Jonathan spoke to himself, as the demons, all of them in fact were outside the village, awaiting him.

And, there was still someone he had not forgotten.

Chloe.

She was confused, and really worried about him as he was leaving without donning his "Dark Raven" persona. And of course, he didn't like it if Chloe were to stay here for no reason.

"Chloe, I am going to put you back to Olga's castle, where you will be taken care of by her." Jonathan spoke, as he created a portal that leads them exactly to where he wants.

"But... what about you? Will you return safely?" Chloe asked, and Jonathan shrugged.

"Now? It's a 100 percent chance, I must say. For now let's just meet Olga."

The two of them entered the portal, arriving in the chamber where Olga mostly sat on her throne, completely expecting them two.

"Welcome again, you two. What are your desires?" Olga asked, leaning forwards curiously.

"May you take care of Chloe for me? I'm in the process of pillaging another village so I figured you might be able to. And, I think you should teach her magic, too." Jonathan replied barely nonchalantly, seeing her roll her eyes in response. "That means you agreed, Olga. No complaints."

"Hmph. Go do you, Jonathan. I'm still waiting for the time when we spend our time together for more than a mere week, aside from when we first met." Was simply Olga's response, going as far as to cross her arms under her chest and lift her breasts up to attract him.

"Ask and you shall receive, soon."

He turned around and left abruptly without warning, leaving Chloe to be silent for a moment.

"Papa! Wait!" Chloe yelled, yet her voice only echoed throughout the chamber, leaving her to pout annoyedly. "Hmph... Now I'm back with shabby old lady!"

Those words were her doom as the Dark Elven child began shuddering while her mouth kept shut.

"Shabby... old lady..." Olga repeated, her eye twitching in light irritation, before standing up. "... Oh well, this Queen has got no choice, Jonathan requested me to teach you magic, so I will grant it. Unlike Jonathan, I won't be going easy."

'I was getting bored wandering around and resting here in my castle without proper company, but at least a mentee is good enough for me.' Olga inwardly commented, grasping ahold of her staff and walking to Chloe.

She told Chloe that their training will begin soon, and the child was required to follow instructions closely while she follows her to a chamber in Olga's castle.

Meanwhile, Jonathan exited the village to meet with the demons that were on standby, each completely expectant, and not really wanting to let them wait, he cleared his throat.

"Ahem! I've got no words other than a simple warning, you are to lessen the human casualties, we are here to conquer, not to simply pillage and destroy like you always did for hundreds of years. Our conquest begins... now!

His speech was heard by all the demons, as they all cheered up, raising their mighty clubs and weapons though Jonathan seemed pretty unfazed at first.

Suddenly, he flicked his fingers, and several dark portals leading to a village appeared in front of them.

Naturally, Jonathan led them in the portals, and the moment they arrived, the guards in that certain village immediately took notice of them.

It could also be noted that he and his troops began to feel a little weaker the moment he entered the portal, which was possibly an effect of something placed here.

And honestly? His portals are still as cheap as he expected, unless they are put in longer distances and are there for a while using the user's own energy.

His energy capacity has also been increasing constantly, to the point where he was now around the higher C ranked ESPers in terms of overall statistics.

[ ~ Line • Break ~ ]

It was a sunny noon in the fishing village of Petal, located in the vast Sapphire River that was near the Dark Lands and the Emerald Sea which the river flows to.

And despite it's distance from it's capital, Thorn, Miko from the capital naturally and normally go here to provide protection and to ward off Demons not from the Lands of Darkness using talismans, as they will become weaker near this village.

Its current elected chief was not even doing anything but rest after sorting out papers and overlook the state of the village for a short while. Naturally, the village still has to pay taxes from the church and fees for the reason of hiring Miko.

This Chief was somebody who had just turned 20, whose plain, black hair with yellow tips almost seemed to cover his brown eyes, and he does look like a protagonist, too.

His name was Haruki.

Sadly he's just a side character, meaning he's rarely relevant to the story.

He was supposed to be resting for longer, but that was until one of the village's guards barged into his room in his own house.

The guard breathed heavily, as if his life was on the line, and it worried the village chief. It was obvious that something was definitely wrong.

"Hey! Take a deep breath and calm down!" Said the chief, as a rising doubt appeared in his heart. "What's happening?"

"Chief Haruki! Our village is under attack by Demons! And they're being led by a Dark Elf, a-at least " Yelled the guard with a few stutters here and there, before something massive crashed to the ground from outside. "That must be the gates! They're coming!"

Without thinking, the Village Chief stood up and walked out of his house while the guard followed him.

Whatever he saw scares him.

And no, houses were not burning, nor were they being destroyed.

A few dozens of knights and a few Miko from Thorn were struggling to deal with several tens of demons from each direction.

The people who could not fight were in their homes, which strangely weren't being destroyed or pillaged.

The Mikos were doing their best in using talismans and chanting in order to empower them. However, the moment a blonde Dark Elf appeared, that person lifted his arm and immediately telekinetically choked one of them, cancelling her spell before tossing her to her ally without much care in the world.

Haruki then began to look around, and found different forms of demons surrounding the village.

"Ten... twenty... no, we're outnumbered!" Haruki realized this, as even when they were weakened, they were still stronger as they were from the Lands of Darkness, he firmly believed that.

"But..."

What should he do now? Let this village, the one he had become a chief of, die just a month after he had become the chief?

Impossible. There must be a way to save this village!

So, without warning, he walked towards the Dark Elf, who obviously was Jonathan, even with the powerful winds smashing to his body and the feeling of dread just trying to figure out what his intentions are.

For Haruki it was a great gamble, people were being slaughtered around the village, and if he doesn't act now, what would his title of Chief do?

"W-Wait! Halt, whoever you are!" Yelled Haruki as he tried to get in Jonathan's way, halting him from further attacking the Mikos (potentially killing them) and the knights surrounding him, even the Demons looked like they wanted to question him.

Yet, Jonathan only chuckled lightly, letting his guard down knowing something will be up.

"And who even are you?" Jonathan asked, straightening his back as he stared deeply into Haruki's eyes behind his bangs.

"I'm Haruki, the chief of the village of Petal! State your intentions, Dark Elf!" Was his reply, as for now, nobody was going to be fighting soon.

"It's just simple, I want to take over your village. And worry not, all those who resist will die, until the time you all surrender." Jonathan explained, before he suddenly lifted his hand. "So what's your choice? Fight to the end, or simply surrender? One choice has more die for naught, and one is a more peaceful option."

Haruki stopped, and looked at the Miko who are questionably looking at him.

"Village chief, we can send messages to our headquarters using talismans, maybe we can still fight back!" A Miko told him, hoping something good will happen.

"It's no use; they're too far away! If we send a message now, it will be too late," said another Miko, who believed that was the case.

They would soon go into a debate with the guards who wanted to keep fighting, but was immediately stopped by Jonathan, who shut them up with his own Psychic Energy spells.

Then, Haruki sighed.

"I... We'll surrender!" He spoke, knowing what consequences would befall on him and this village for surrendering to Olga's forces. "Hopefully, Goddess Celestine would forgive me for this..."

Though his decision will deal a lot of damage to his reputation, there was no other choice. Shouldering burdens should be the only way out.

And to Jonathan? Well, the land around it was full of agriculture, and was a good village for him to take.

Due to him, for an entire week, the village will be in a state of isolation, secretly cut off from the Seven Fortresses. And because of his demons' strange attitudes far more similar to humans, it confused most of them.

A few of the demons, maybe 20 of them were already beginning to integrate themselves to the human settlement, acting like humans most of the time.

Humans who tried to escape were no longer found due to hidden imps spying on them, inciting false hope to the villagers, though they did not decide to escape because they can still live like usual.

The rest of the demons who were living in Orthadroval had returned, and the others merely stayed in Petal, either due to command or personal matters, or both.

And Haruki? He had an agreement with Jonathan that the integration of demons to human society is a must, and as part of their agreement, this village needed to be protected from the church of Celestine that would eventually label them as heretics.

Soon enough, Jonathan began to manage his own village, maybe to establish a new trade route from his main village to Petal, along with a few things.

But for now... Olga should be first.

[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]

One Question: What do you know about Celestine Lucross and the Church? Let me know.