We rushed towards the western entrance. There were soldiers and a few adventurers trying to fend off the monsters there. Most of them seemed to be furry beasts, but I cannot make out what they really are. I had never seen such monsters before.
"Let's go, Onii-chan!" shouted Rose as the two of us engaged in combat.
Fighting these beasts was not too difficult, but they were ferocious. They looked like some hybrid monsters between a wolf and a bear. Some stood on two legs, while others were on all fours. Good thing it was not some chicken-duck-woman thingy; otherwise, I would be really afraid. I used my dagger as I did not feel the need to use either of my legendary weapons just yet.
I stabbed my dagger below the chin of one of the beasts. It yelped in pain but continued to take a swipe at me with its claws. I dismembered the hand before it even reached me, and red blood spewed from its wound. But the blood felt unnatural. It was glowing brightly. Like the time I fought with the Queen. Thankfully, their wounds does not heal like a demon.
More and more monsters approached us. I sunk my dagger into their necks, but they still fought with tenacity until their dying breath. Why are these monsters so hell-bent on killing humans that they do not even bother dying over it? Are they insane?
I continued stabbing as fast as I could, and a few of them leaped at me just as I struggled to pull out my dagger on one of them. I quickly summoned my gauntlets, and one of them bit into it, trying to reach me as I did my best to push it backwards. I released my dagger and punched the monster biting my gauntlet. It flew some distance away as I did not hold back. I retrieved my dagger and inspected my gauntlet. Thank goodness their fangs did not bite through. These monsters are the most ferocious beings I have ever fought in my entire life.
Rose cast Accelerate and Light Blessing simultaneously while fighting, which affected all of the surrounding allies. She is skilled enough to chant spells in the midst of combat now. Her rapier is soaked in blood as she ran around the battlefield, stabbing at the beast's weak points. Many beasts were starting to target her. She fought beautifully against the wave of monsters, but their quantity was limitless. A beast leaped at her from above, which I threw my dagger and hit it dead centre in the eye, sending it into a blind rage.
Things are not looking good. There were too many of them and only a handful of us. I closed my eyes and upon opening them, activated Concentration. I then cast Fear to all surrounding enemies.
Although I do not know what they saw, the monsters were certainly affected by my spell and many of them ran with their tails tugged between their legs. Any remaining beasts were eliminated mostly by Rose and me. We regrouped as we were expecting them to return but after a couple of minutes, it seemed that none of them came back.
"Soldiers, give me a sit-rep," I asked them in general, expecting at least one of them to be in charge.
"Sir, what information are you looking for?" saluted a soldier.
Truth be told, the soldiers had every right to ignore my request entirely. But the majority of the soldiers knew who I was and they were certainly not daring enough to disobey a request from one of the four great powers.
"What happened? Why were there no cannons being fired or more soldiers reinforcing here before they reached the walls?" I asked him.
"Sir, the monsters came at the most unexpected time. We were in the midst of changing shift when they attacked. And they came with such speed that we do not have enough time to ready the cannons or defences. We just do not have enough people, sir!" said the soldier as he saluted me.
I glanced around to observe the situation. There were a few soldiers and adventurers that did not make it. Is the frequency of monsters attacking us bleeding us dry? I will certainly need to talk with the guildmasters after this. This city must be protected during these dark times at all costs.
"Thank you, I appreciate your report. I will be conveying your message to the guildmasters directly, and hopefully, they can persuade the council to add more reinforcements to all the entrances," I told the soldier.
All the soldiers saluted me as I made my way back inside the city. Some adventurers gave their thanks to both Rose and me. I daresay that Rose's reputation is on par with mine, perhaps even more. The Church of Imperatrix had been trying to recruit her into their service ever since they first began spreading their religion. Who does not want the White Angel to serve as their ambassador or something? Thankfully, Rose isn't interested in such things.
"Aww man, now my clothes are filled with blood splatters. I just washed this," complained Rose as she checked the condition of her clothes.
I dragged her into one of the alleyways hidden from prying eyes and kissed her.
"Onii-chan, we are gonna be late," chuckled Rose.
"How long has it been since I last saw my wife in action? That certainly aroused me," I told her as I continued to shower her with kisses.
"Geez, stop it. Keep it for tonight. The guildmasters are already waiting for us. We've got to go," she pushed me back but gave one last kiss before heading out.
***
"I see that you are late, as always," sighed John.
"Well, excuse me, princess. Rose and I were busy helping out against the monster attacks at the western entrance," I told him.
"What? Again? How many times does that make it now?" said John as he rubbed his head.
"What is going on? Why are monsters attacking the city directly? Something must be triggering them to do this," asked Rose.
"We do not know, white angel. We would like to investigate the source of where these monsters are coming, but we are stretched thin, unfortunately," sighed the Dragon Lord.
"Run me through. What are our concerns currently? Why can't we fortify the city with more soldiers or adventurers? These monsters were smart enough to attack us at a vulnerable time, and it is only a matter of time before they pick apart our defences," I asked all of them.
"The city is not just our main duty to protect, Zen. There are other locations that need our help as well," said John as he started raising his voice.
"John, I am sorry if I offended you, but I was only asking about the situation that you all are currently facing," I said politely.
Someone knocked on the table that all of the guildmasters were seated at. It was the Elementalist.
"Let us calm ourselves and have a proper discussion. Getting hot-headed does not bring us any results. A member of the great power is here to help us. Let us not forget ourselves, even though we knew him before he gained that title," said the Elementalist as he bowed to me.
All the others followed suit and bowed to me. John apologised to me for misunderstanding my intention. To be honest, I never cared about my title whatsoever. I did not want this title in the first place nor am I seeking to be respected for it. Respect should be given both ways.
"Let us start again, our adventurers and soldiers are limited inside the city due to them being assigned to protect some villages that are around our borders. They are also facing monster attacks on a frequent basis. Not to mention dragons as well. We are just scattered everywhere right now," said the Paladin Lord.
"Can I propose that we bring them into the city? It would be easier for us to protect them within these walls, isn't it?" I asked them.
"It is not that simple. Those villagers are not willing to abandon their homes and not to mention we need to think about the logistics of bringing them here. Then we have to think about their lodging and accommodation. We cannot let them stay in the tavern forever. We also need to bring in more food to accommodate all those people. We are talking about costs that we will need to put in just to bring them here, build lodging for them and order more food supplies to cater for them," explained John.
"Is money really an issue? Just my curiosity," I asked them in the politest way possible.
"It is going to cost a lot, Zen. We are talking about thousands of gold coins involved," said the Dark Lord.
"Is the council willing to take a loan? From what I am hearing, money seems to be the main issue here," I asked.
"No banks are willing to loan the council as it is too risky. They do not trust that we will be repaying them. Not to mention the high amount that we need to loan," said the Dragon Lord.
"I never said from banks. I'm saying from me. Interest-free," I said.
Rose immediately turned her head at me and stared at me while being surprised. It then turned to horror as her brain registered what I had just said. I assured her that we will have enough for decades to come.
She does not know how much extra I had earned from the stove and pocket watch blueprint invention sold by Stein. Any new ideas that I've discussed with Stein mean that I will have a cut of it after being sold to the highest bidder. And those are not small amounts. There are no companies that would pass up obtaining the rights to start manufacturing new inventions. However, they will only have about five years before the blueprints will be made public to other companies. This is to prevent a monopoly on a specific product forever. But five years is more than enough to earn them millions if not billions of coins if the inventions are sorely needed by the masses.
"A… are you for real? You are willing to loan us? We are talking about thousands of coins involved here, Zen. I know you are earning royalties from your potion business, but you can't possibly have that kind of money, right?" asked John as he stared blankly at me.
"Can we put down an exact amount needed as we are in discussion right now?" I asked.
And so, all the guildmasters discussed what was needed and the estimated breakdown of each cost. The final amount was estimated to be around 8,000 plus gold coins. Ehh… not too bad, a fraction of my wealth but doable. Rose was tugging on my shirt the entire time, but I assured her that everything was fine. I wrote down an amount that they needed to pay me back monthly, and they all agreed. John and Rose were speechless. I guess they never knew how much I had earned throughout my journey.
"It would seem that the Fourth Great Power himself is not just in name but in value as well," said the Elementalist.
"Please don't say as though I have no other perks aside from being rich. I have other values aside from having money," I replied with a sigh.
"Right, if the villagers refused to come over, feel free to use my title or Peter's. Sometimes we have to threaten them for their own good. Or perhaps threaten to remove all soldiers and adventurers protecting them if they wish to continue staying there," I continued.
"We can handle that, Zen. Your willingness to help is a value that I had foreseen in you ever since you first joined the Dark Guild. I am proud to have you in my guild," bowed the Dark Lord.
"Ah, there he goes again. Your guildmaster has been bragging to us ever since you got your title," said the Paladin Lord as he rolled his eyes.
"I deserve pride in raising such a pupil," he answered.
"Fellas? We are not done with the meeting, please," said the Dragon Lord.
"Oh, right. We have a task for you, Zen, if you don't mind?" asked John.
"Before that, have any of you heard about the existence of hunters? One of them fought with me over my title a few days ago," I asked all of them.
I had spoken with Rose about them, but she had never heard anything about them before.
"We had heard of them before, but they rarely caused any trouble so far. They were mostly known for hunting demons exclusively. I am surprised that they would take interest in your title," said the Dragon Lord.
"That is not the best part. Apparently, they had found a way to heal wounds instantly on the fly," I said nonchalantly.
"What?!" shouted all of them, but only John stood up.
"This is not one of your imaginations, right, Zen? You are certain you saw it?" asked John.
"With these very eyes. And Daisy's as well. The hunter used some green fluid to inject herself after I wounded her. Her wound mended itself right in front of me," I told them honestly.
"Green fluid? Hmm," said the Elementalist as all of them pondered on the thought.
"Maybe you can tell me about my task as all of you pondered on your thoughts? I suspected as much when both Rose and I were summoned today," I said.
"Right. Let us get straight to the point. We had not heard from Sladar for some time. We are hoping that you can help us to check up on him, if possible?" asked the Paladin Lord.
"You want me to find him? In the entire Demon Continent? You do realise how ridiculous that sounds, right?" I asked all of them.
"I believe we had worded it wrong. Your task is to check up on the newly established village located here. Rumour has it that they have never been attacked by demons ever since they had first established themselves there. That was three years ago. We would like an update on this village as we do not know about the whereabouts of Sladar. He was always the one who provided updated information about the Demon Continent to us," explained the Dark Lord as he pointed to an area on the Northern continent map.
"Let me get this straight. I am to check up on this village here and see their condition of living there. And should I happen to meet Sladar, then I should ask him for a status update. Am I right?" I asked all of them and they nodded simultaneously.
Alright. That is more feasible. Expecting me to find a single lizardman in the entire continent is just not possible. But I guess I won't be having any guide to bring me over to the northern continent this time. Sladar had always been our guide whenever we headed over there. I suppose it is just Rose and me this time. Wait a minute, just Rose and me? What about Daisy?!
"Umm… there is a minor setback. You see, I have a daughter that needs to be taken care of," I asked as I raised my hand.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Zen. Daisy can stay with me and Daffodil. I've already spoken with her and she gave her permission to allow Daisy to stay over. I promise I'll keep her safe and sound. Brother's promise," said John as he pulled out his fist.
I bumped his fist and said my thanks. I guess we will need to persuade Daisy to stay with John and Daffodil as we head over to the northern continent. I hope she is able to be understanding about it and not make a fuss. Who am I kidding, I am sure she will.
We were done with our part for the meeting so Rose and I left the hideout and were on our way back home. Rose was surprisingly quiet as we were walking back. I poked her cheek a little to check on her condition but she looked at me with dull eyes and looked forward again. Uh oh, what happened? Did I break my wife or something?
"Rose, what's going on? Are you upset to be apart from Daisy?" I asked her curiously.
She kept silent. I racked my mind, wondering what I had done wrong? Was it due to my behaviour earlier in the alleyway? All I had done was kiss her, and nothing else. What else had I done today that had made her behave like this?
"I… thought I knew my husband well," she started.
"But on this very day, you were so extremely kind, sweet, and caring. You were willing to help the masses, and people were calling you a genius. Not to mention you were rich! How did I not even know how much you had?! How much do you really have?!" asked Rose as she gripped her head.
"I feel like I barely even know you anymore. I mean, I always knew you were kind and caring, don't get me wrong. You were willing to adopt me even when you didn't have to. But there were so many sides of you that I never even knew about today," said Rose with a sad tone.
I pulled her to the side of the street and hugged her from behind. I am not sure why she took all of this as something negative rather than positive. I guess I'll need to calm her down.
"Rose, there is nothing wrong with learning something new about someone. I mean, as long as it's not something bad. You don't have to feel as though you need to know everything about me just because you are my wife. That's what makes marriage exciting when you thought you knew that person but there is actually something more. Again, as long as it's not a bad thing," I whispered to her softly.
She placed her hand on top of my arms and leaned her head backwards. She was crouching a little as she was taller than me. Rose seems to always adjust her angle at the right time to cater for my short height. Her eyes were always beautiful and when she looked at me this way, it made me remember the time I first fell in love with her.
"Zen, onii-chan. I love you," she said with a smile.
"I love you too, Rose," I said as I kissed her.
***
We made it back home with a takeaway as it was getting late. Daffodil welcomed us into our home, and we invited her to join us for dinner along with Aloe. We tried to explain to Daisy that both Rose and I would be gone for a while to complete a task assigned by the guildmasters. She could not grasp why both of us were needed. She even said that Daddy can complete it himself while Mummy can stay with her. Ouch, kids can be brutally honest at times about who they favour more.
Rose took over to explain to her quietly on the couch while I did the dishes. Daffodil had already left with Aloe back to their home. We are expecting to be leaving in about three days' time as we gathered supplies to head north. It's been a while since I visited the City Of Lilies, Dahlee. I wonder if Darcy and Danny are still there. I hope they are still alive as I cannot wait to meet up with them again.