Revealing His Objective
1022 Words
Julius, Eisha, and Aria had to leave their caravans at a guest vehicle lot and travel on foot to the Mountain King’s castle.
On the way, Julius and the 2 women took in the sights of the dwarven city. They were being escorted by a few dwarven guards so the dwarven citizens didn’t go up and attack them for looking like humans.
They were to promptly go to the castle, but Julius asked for permission by using another crate of gold ore to buy some food for his wife. The dwarves were being obviously bribed, but Julius was just asking for food.
They would be getting another crate of unprocessed gold ore so they let him do what he wanted after they found a small restaurant. Eisha devoured as much food as she could until her energy was restored.
It was quite a large amount and even the dwarves who were known for their drinking and eating were surprised to see her eat around 3 times as much as they did before feeling satisfied.
After their brief detour, Julius and the two were led to the castle. His fiends were protecting their caravan and after Eisha had spawned a few new batches of them, their numbers had more than doubled.
At least now, it wasn’t only the human-transformed mimics guarding the caravans. A few homunculi and fiend soldiers were patrolling around the wagons and their appearance, which greatly differed from that of the humans allowed the dwarves to rest easy for a bit.
Of course, the dwarves monitoring these fiends were still rather wary. Their menacing appearances didn’t loosen the level of caution they had towards this new race of creatures that they were seeing for the first time.
The unknown was always frightening, but at least the dwarves weren’t like the humans that attacked the fiends right from the get-go after seeing their rather frightening appearances.
The dwarves and elves were similar in this aspect as they didn’t directly attack them. As long as they weren’t humans and weren’t a threat, the dwarves didn’t care. They did business with demons, beastmen, vampires, orcs, dark elves, and giants, they didn’t need to be too wary of another race who wasn’t part of the alliance coming here to establish a business relation with them.
*****
Julius arrived at the castle without any more delays and they were immediately brought to the throne room to meet with the Mountain King. They didn’t have to wait and were immediately granted an audience.
When they met face-to-face with the Mountain King, Julius could feel an oppressing aura engulf the room. The king was strong but that was natural since there was no way the king of a species wouldn’t be strong.
“Don’t think I brought you in here because I believe any of your lies. I just wanted to see who had the audacity to spout such hubris. Young man, you must be very foolish, or very desperate to see me given that you said such a thing.”
“Hm?”
Julius frowned a bit before he began chuckling. The king didn’t believe him when he said that he would revive the princess.
Julius dipped his head in a courteous bow before addressing the king, “My name is Julius, King of the Fiends.”
“...Sithaeth, King of the Dwarves.”
“I won’t beat around the bush, King Sithaeth. I’ve come here intending to form an alliance with you dwarves.”
“That’s to be expected...but Fiends you say? You look like any other human to me… except my men say that you can transform into some kind of gruesome creature?”
Julius laughed and didn’t take offense. His transformation was indeed gruesome and fear-inspiring.
“That’s just how we are. But since you’re so understanding, I guess this means the method I’ve prepared to prove to you that we aren’t human is useless now.”
“...”
Julius reached out towards Aria and brought her forward.
“King Sithaeth, as fellow kings of our races, we naturally are men of our words. I told your messenger that I came here to seek an audience with you and that I would revive your daughter.”
“...So you weren’t just blustering?” Sithaeth asked, apathetically.
“Why would I lie? If I say I can do it, then it means that I can do.”
“...”
“If you don’t believe me, then take this woman to your deceased daughter. She’ll revive her and if it doesn’t work, I’ll gladly give you my head as compensation.”
“Honey?!”
“My Lord?!”
Julius silenced the two women with a hush. He needed to do this much to gain King Sithaeth’s trust. He could already see that negotiating through normal ways wasn’t going to get him anywhere with this king.
He’d rather do something extreme to prove that he wasn’t just messing around and was completely serious.
King Sithaeth saw the playful resolve in Julius’s eyes and knew that this young man, who was offering his life up to prove a point, wasn’t joking around. He frowned because right now, his daughter was undergoing a burial ceremony.
It had just started so her body shouldn’t have been tampered with as of yet. Seeing Julius’s confidence and resolve, Sithaeth felt a little hopeful but was still rather skeptical.
“You said this yourself...if you fail to uphold your words, you’ll give me your head, yes?”
“Of course, but I assure you...your daughter will soon be running into your arms and you’ll be able to feel her warmth once again.”
- Writer
