122 – Royal Banquet (11)

I crouched next to Kulmonari's dead corpse and ran a finger over the blood seeping out of the wound, then brought it to my face and sniffed it.

It smelled like regular blood.

The room had the odor of piss, sweat and a bit of feces from Zalan's last moments, the various perfumes from the Rulers around me, the various metals that the Royal Guard armor and weapons were made of, the stone the room was built with, and the multitude of degrees in which E'er was rearranged to form enchantments.

There was no hint of the particular mixture that is the smell of Demonic blood coming from my finger. It smelled like something that inexplicably belonged to this world, unlike Nerissa's.

While the Demon's blood was quite fetid and undeniably stimulating to me due to my personal experiences, it was something that felt distinctly alien. It clearly didn't belong in Galeia. My instincts told me so and I wholeheartedly agreed.

Still, a lot of questions popped in my mind.

“Here, Your Excellency,” Hanna spoke, reaching down to me and offering a handkerchief.

I took it and cleaned my finger while standing up. “Thank you,” I told her and returned the cloth.

The Rulers wore thoughtful expressions, humming every once in a while and nodding to themselves.

“I have a question,” I began and changed my clothes back to my suit.

Those present turned to me.

I looked at the dead Changelings and squinted my eyes. “In regards to the natural order, where does me killing sentient people stand? And by extension... eating sentient people?”

Odnik, who I assumed to be the oldest, spoke. “Your Excellency is a Halve, a being of E'er. We are mortals of flesh. We are different beings not only in the way we function but also in how we come to be. There are few, if any, objective similarities between us. Some would argue that the purpose of being alive is to reach your kind. Others would vehemently point out the fact we are simply not meant to due to how different we are by design.” He sighed. “Plants find their sustenance in the suns and the soil, herbivores in turn feed on plants, carnivores do so with herbivores. Living being has something they can't feed on. Halves have no such limitations, however. Your kind feeds on the suns, the soil, herbivores, and carnivores. Whether the prey is sentient or not... matters little.”

I turned to him. “How about E'er?”

“E'er is in everything, no?” Paveli supplied, as if pointing out the obvious.

“Hmm...” I nodded. Well, duh.

“Most would see it as something undesirable,” Gordon commented. “It's not nice to see someone eat your kind.”

“Morality is subjective, after all,” Plesani chuckled.

“So I could eat the Royal Palace?” I wondered out loud.

“You would leave me with no home,” Gordon joked.

The rest of us laughed.

Is that why my teeth are unbreakable? To eat everything? I thought while looking at the people in the room.

“Your Excellency,” Paveli addressed me. “Apologies for asking again, but how did the Demon fight?”

“It didn't,” I replied with a shrug.

“Then how, my I ask, did Your Excellency come to find it if nobody else could?” he asked. “I would like to know in case one comes to my country.”

I nodded and gave Gordon a look.

The King gave me a nod. “Royal Guard, dismissed,” he instructed.

The Rulers turned to him with surprise on their faces.

The armored individuals saluted and said 'Yes, Your Majesty' at the same time, then left the room one by one. The last one took the Changelings' corpses and stored them before leaving.

I turned to Hanna. “Give us a few minutes?” I requested.

The Ork nodded, bowed, and left after the others.

Once the seven of us were the only people in the room, Gordon's eyes shone with a light green glow. “The room is secure,” he informed us.

A few moments of silence followed.

Everyone turned to me.

I thought he'd be the one to talk since... Well, whatever. I cleared my throat. “As Rulers, I'm sure you know a little about Halves,” I started, running a hand through my hair.

“Naturally,” Claudia replied.

“That would be correct,” Plesani added.

The rest answered in the affirmative as well.

I shrugged. “My trial was in Hell,” I informed them. “So I know how to hunt Demons. Nerissa, the one that tormented Gordon, was a mind-related one as I said before. She didn't exactly fight, but she tried to manipulate me with words. Her type did the same in Hell. They were weak when it came to physical power compared to others. They moved in groups with stronger Demons, and I would bet there was some kind of symbiotic relationship. I didn't exactly have the time to study them, to be honest. Demons have a particular smell to them which I am very familiar with so I had very little difficulty when looking for it, though.”

“Hell...” some whispered.

“And this, Nerissa... did... she come from Hell?” Odnik inquired, looking me in the eye.

I nodded. “She said they got here three hundred years ago,” I replied.

“When His Excellency Perculis passed away...” Plesani muttered.

“They?” Paveli repeated. “How many?”

“Around a thousand according to her,” I informed him.

“His Excellency Perculis chose His Divinity Photem's temple to spend the last moments of his life,” Odnik told me. “We mortals are not allowed to go there. If, and I pray I'm wrong, His Excellency's death allowed Demons to come to our world, perhaps Your Excellency could investigate. There is much we don't know, and are not allowed to. I wouldn't dare ask that Your Excellency reveals Divine secrets, but if Your Excellency comes across such knowledge, I beg Your Excellency educates us in facing this threat.”

I tilted my head and furrowed my brows. “What about the Gods? You could ask them for help as well?”

Sahaz sighed. “The Gods... only grant knowledge. They believe our autonomy stands above our survival.”

I blinked a few times. “What the fuck does that even mean?”

“What we do with the knowledge they grant us with is up to us, they say,” Plesani supplied with a shake of her head. “Be it war, a higher society, the end of civilization... the outcome is irrelevant to them.”

“That's some shitty Gods if you ask me,” I scoffed. “So they don't care if someone seeks world domination?”

“Not quite,” Claudia spoke. “They largely enjoy seeing us flourish. They decided to leave us be a long time ago, though. We've made great things with what they gave us, and with what Your Excellency's kind allowed us to have.”

Sheeeeeeeeesh, I whistled in surprise. Those are some uncaring Gods.

“Perhaps this analogy explains it better,” Gordon joined the conversation. “When you teach your children, you don't control their lives forever. You have to let them go so they can form their own bonds, their own lives. A parent is not fully responsible for what their child does, but they can guide them from outside.”

Nope... makes no sense, I thought. Well... I didn't exactly have the ideal childhood so my view is biased. Would this make sense to someone else?

“Three hundred years,” Paveli muttered. “Quite a few things match.”

“We need to investigate further,” Sahaz concluded. “We need to see exactly what and how has changed.”

“Who has risen to prominence, who has developed technologies, if any new Classes have appeared, what research has gained new insights, and more,” Paveli continued, tapping his lower lip. “Even within our countries.”

“Naturally,” Odnik agreed. “We know of the attempt at His Excellency Miraztor's life, and we don't blame Gordon for it. This time they went after a Protector and a Ruler. That's bold, if anything.”

“Bold?” Claudia repeated in disbelief. “That's an understatement, Odnik.”

I sighed. “I suspect Nerissa told the Changelings about my... legend in Hell,” I announced. “If so, then everyone who has come across a Demon might know of it.”

“That's good,” Sahaz chuckled, her feathered ears shaking a little. “They know there's only death at the end, yes?”

I nodded. “If they threaten the lives of many. A person who became rich because a Demon gave a few tips is not my business.”

The Rulers nodded.

“But a Demon that threatens the stability of a country is, correct?” Paveli inquired.

I shrugged. “Depends. If Nerissa succeeded in killing Gordon, there would be more victims in the long run. If, say, a little Demon tips the scale of the economy, then that's the government's problem. Only when lives are directly threatened I will show up.”

“Let's hope nobody with such narrow sight met a Demon, then,” Gordon sighed.

We all nodded in agreement.

The meeting continued with the Rulers deciding on what to look for, where, since when, and how sneakily they should deal with it.

I asked questions here and there, taking the chance of having six rulers more than willing to answer.

Much to my surprise, people can't get overly rich in this world. When someone invents something, they would be required to share their product with the government to see if it's safe for circulation. If it's a total success, then they are also required to share the plans to avoid monopoly since that's an Eternal Edict no government has the authority to change or overrule.

That made me cringe a little inside, but economy is not something I deal with as a Halve.

Finally, I told them to use 'True Sight' to check for Demons since the shape-shifting is biological except for the information seen when appraising them.

After another thirty minutes of them discussing their approach to the Demon matter, they came to the conclusion to have a meeting with more Rulers from other countries before taking big measures.

I was asked to stay for that, but I refused with every gram of strength available to me. 'I'm going to meet the Gods' was the explanation I gave them.

They had no choice but to accept.

Being a Halve is pretty good sometimes.

As such, and with the little meeting done, we left the room and returned to the banquet.

Hanna was waiting for me and followed me back to the venue.

I walked towards the alcohol table in a straight line and drank a few glasses.

Fortunately for my sanity, the envoys left me alone for some reason that I wasn't about to question.

While looking around and chatting with Hanna in Orkish, I noticed Pokora chatting with Yolin on the other side of the hall.

The Elf had a big dumb smile on her face, and she laughed at every little thing the Oni said.

I smiled and nodded in approval. “Hey, Hanna,” I called out to the Ork next to me.

The Scout was drinking a non-alcoholic cocktail. She let go of the paper straw and turned to me. “Yes, Your Excellency?”

I took a sip of my eight glass and asked, “How long since you last got laid?”

The Ork's face turned confused for a second.