Chapter 166: Unexpected Guests

- Central Abelis, Outside Marcobus City, The Next Day – Gilgamesh's POV –

Standing on a hill overlooking the city my student was in I barely reacted when someone I knew very well stopped to watch the two armies setting up camp in the distance with me. I had done everything I could to be as discreet as possible but the organization he belonged to was nothing if not well-informed.

[Are you sure you don’t want to help out your student? Even if she is a candidate for the next Demon Lord she’s not quite at the point where she’ll be entirely safe against those fools in the Church.] – First Seat

[Haaah… you should know by now that I don’t involve myself in fights between countries anymore. I’m… tired… Besides… she’ll be fine, she’s got a good head on her shoulders and wouldn’t go out of her way to put herself in danger.] – Gilgamesh

I knew him only as First Seat. The strongest of the group that he belonged to, although I had given him a run for his money when we’d first met nearly 300 years before. I still wasn’t sure what race he was though since he hadn’t aged a day in all that time. I only knew that he wasn’t immortal like myself. The injuries I’d given him during our battle were proof enough of that.

Another thing I knew about him, or rather that he knew about me, was…

[You know that we’d be willing to help if you only agreed to join us? I know the Guild Master would be ecstatic to have the former companion of the Hero on our side, especially for what’s coming. The Last Seat wasn’t able to find Them, but the traces left clearly indicate that they are active once more… We could use your help for what’s to come.] – First Seat

[You… haven’t told him about me? You gave me your wor-] – Gilgamesh

[Oh, to be sure he didn’t hear any word of your existence from my lips. But did you really believe that you could operate for so long within the Adventurers Guild without him noticing? Even if you change your alias, you still leave far too many traces for those that know what to look for.] – First Seat

[Then you should be well aware of my stance on taking a more active role in history. I’m old, too old. My time has come and gone thousands of years ago, it’s not my place to step in and take away the responsibility of those who are living now in affecting change for themselves. Who am I to tell them how their world should look?] – Gilgamesh

[You’re a living legend, a hero, who els-] – First Seat

[I’m just and old man. I’m not a god, or a hero, I just want to stay out of history until I finally die. It’s not fair to push the ideas of a dead man on the world, no matter how much he thinks himself to be correct.] – Gilgamesh

[I… see… Well, our offer is always available for you if you want it. I should get going, the Guild Master is worried about some of the moves the Church has been making, even with our neutrality in conflicts between nations some of the rumors coming from their territory has us worried. We may need to step in if things go badly.] – First Seat

There was only one Guild Master he could be referring to, while all of the city Guild Master’s shared that title only one person would be referred to without adding a name to it, the founder and leader of the Adventurer’s Guild, a man as mysterious as the guild itself, and one that rarely took action personally. If he was personally involved…

Still though…

[I see… See you later then. Oh, and next time, let’s not have the same conversation as always. It gets a bit stale after a few hundred years.] – Gilgamesh

Watching the lanky man go I left him with a familiar goodbye. One that we’d repeated every time we met, and one that he never honored despite knowing him for so long. The ritual had become so familiar that at this point likely neither of us even really thought about it anymore. But this time something different happened. He paused.

[Her grandfather has arrived. Every prophet on the continent sensed his arrival but we’ve yet to locate him. Could I ask that you assist us if he makes any… big moves? Even with all of the Seats gathered together we’re unsure if we could contain him. The Guild Master himself has even started to move, he says it’s as a precaution but even if I can’t see the future, I still feel… something. Something big is about to happen and it’s connected with that girl. Just… keep that in mind as you stay out of it.] – First Seat

[…I will. Thank you.] – Gilgamesh

[…mmm.] – First Seat

He was right, I knew he was. Even without precognition I felt like something big was about to happen, like the Grim Reaper herself was staring at me. It was the first time I’d felt that since right before we went to fight the Demon Lord over 2,000 years ago but I’d not forgotten that feeling even once.

And so, for the first time in nearly a thousand years, I prepared for the possibility of interfering in global events. Although I truly hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

- Central Abelis, Marcobus City, Several Days Later – Rose's POV –

The next few days passed without much fanfare, no major offensives from either side as the battles amounted to nothing more than poking at each other rather than full-on battles. And so nearly a week passed with more and more soldiers arrived on both sides with the total troops swelling to nearly a million total. The kinds of numbers that rivaled wars in my old world, although I only knew a small bit about such things being from an era that was mostly peaceful.

In contrast, it was my experiences in this world that were much more vivid, with me already being referred to as a war hero, although mostly by people that knew about what happened in the Arena, I wasn’t experienced enough to have truly earned that title. Something told me that wouldn’t be the case for long though since it had become increasingly obvious that the Church was planning something big in the last few days. Rumors abounded about what they could be planning and, while I had hoped to spend more time with Karen, we’d recently just been going straight to sleep rather than spending time together to be ready if anything happened.

And then it did.

[Young Miss! You need to wake up, Young Miss! …Rose!] – Annabelle

[Huwaa! I’m up, I’m up! What’s wrong? Are we under attack?] – Rose

I hadn’t heard any obvious explosions or the sounds of battle but, being woken up so forcefully instantly made me wary. Something big must have happened for my maid to wake me up this early.

Glancing past my surrogate big sister I noted the lack of sunlight through the window, meaning it was extremely early. A fact that made me even more tense when paired with Annabelle’s serious expression. Unfortunately, our movement woke up another person, someone that had taken to a habit of wrapping herself around my body while sleeping but had luckily shrunk overnight, freeing me.

[Hahaaaaaah~! Oh, you’re up Rose, is something going on? Annabelle? Have they made their move?] – Karen

[I’m not sure, all we know is that a messenger from the Church has arrived and demanded an audience. The Mistress wishes for you to be present during whatever he has to say. You may be present as well Lady Karen, although you’ll need to be on your best behavior of course. Now come, I have prepared clothing for both of you.] – Annabelle

This was another thing that had changed over the last week. While my longtime maid had initially been reluctant to even acknowledge the relationship between Karen and I she’d been forced to at least be more gracious towards my violet lover when she basically started living full-time in my bedroom. The passive aggressiveness hadn’t stopped though, despite her seeming acceptance of the new arrangement.

- Central Abelis, Marcobus City, An Hour Later – Rose's POV –

The audience hall was a large one, not the largest that I’d ever seen but, for a city of only modest size it was oversized. It did serve its purpose however, the size being large enough to accommodate the various monarchs and representatives of said monarchs, each of them glaring at the same individual, a quite arrogant looking foppish messenger from the Church, flanked by two soldiers. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see much without raising myself to my full height, but I wouldn’t dare call that much attention to myself just to get a look at some dickhead from a racist religion. I could see enough though, based on the reactions of the people that could see the group, it wasn’t great.

Honestly, given the barely masked animosity emenating from those in the room I was surprised that the messenger wasn’t shaking in his boots at this point and finally, after a concerted effort, the room quieted to allow my Auntie to speak. Out of everyone present she’d been chosen to lead most of the diplomacy since she led the strongest military of the Alliance. Although her actual role was more of a mouthpiece for the Alliance as a whole so her power wasn’t unlimited.

[And what exactly brings you to us this late in the war? From my understanding you made your... demands... quite clear before this conflict. If you wish to offer terms of surrender we’d be happy to host you but, from your limited guard and general demeanor I assume that you’re not here for anything quite so intelligent.] - Queen Laura

A sharp intake of breath from the Church’s side echoed through the silent chamber, I wasn’t able to see how he reacted to such blatant arrogance but that sound alone told me enough to cause a smile to grow on my face. She was real cause to be arrogant, sure, they’d technically managed to gain control over a large portion of the Plains of Opportunity just recently but that had been at a huge cost to themselves and all to a single opponent. Our side hadn’t suffered more than a few dozen deaths in the battle as a whole and my Grandma had massacred several thousand of their own soldiers before being forced to retreat. All of this while fighting off their newest combat asset successfully. Sure she’d been exhausted by the effort but no permanent damage had been done and she was already well on her way to recovering. Plus her husband, my Grandpa, was in full health and was understandably irrritated by the entire thing and was eager to pay the Church back for the humiliation. It was clear to everyone that the Church had severely overestimated themselves since, in the skirmishes that followed, it had been made very obvious that they still hadn’t recovered from the loss of morale. No amount of boasting and propaganda could hide how many soldiers were killed to take a small patch of land in a war that was meant to be about taking all of it. Our spies had also done everything they could to encourage such sentiments, spreading stories that made the battle on the plains seem even more one-sided within the enemy forces.

And it was obvious that the messenger knew all of this.

[Tch! While it is beneath me to speak to you animals as if you were anything but uncivilized brutes incapable of understanding I’ve been asked to invite each of the leaders to neutral ground to discuss the ongoing war and how we may... resolve these misunderstandings. I’m sure even unintelligent beasts such as yourself understand the value of hastening this worthless conflict.] - Arrogant Church Messenger

[Careful, messenger, you are crossing dangerous sands, your little masked puppet didn’t stand a chance against even a single one of our forces. What’s to stop us from just ending this war the traditional way rather than making any sort of agreement here.] - Queen Laura

[Yeah! We can put a stop to your aggression once and for all! Why should we agree to anything you say?!?] - Delegate of Jut, King Al Jut

[Now now, let’s hear the fools out, while they started this was it is in our best interest to finish it promptly and while I have no doubt that we could easily snuff out the opposing army with our current forces it behooves us to give them a chance to save themselves. It’s only logical.] - Delegate of the Labyrinth City, Councilwoman Gorvi

[She’s right, Al, while I’d wish for nothing more than to silence this arrogant stone-less fool permanently it’s in our best interest to finish this as soon as we are able.] - Delegate of Kel, King Beta Kel

[But what abo-] - Delegate of Jut, King Al Jut

[Just let them scheme Al, none of those fools have any intention of actually following through on any kind of peace deal. I say we meet them.] - Delegate of Fastus, King Leo

[...] - Delegate of Ignavus, Viscount Nominare

[Quiet, please, everyone. It’s unbecoming to argue like this in front of guests. Now, I apologize for my collegue’s interruptions but they make good points, we shall meet your delegation. I’d say the Plains themselves would make for plenty neutral grounds since our forces are still contending over their control wouldn’t you say?] - Queen Laura

Ha! They really showed him what for. But more importantly did this mean that this war was almost over? I mean, sure, I was happy the fighting would end soon if true but something told me that was wishful thinking, especially the hard edges on those that could fully see everything going on spoke to me of how hopeful the concept of peace was this early on. I somehow knew that peace this time would be much harder won than that.

- Central Abelis, Marcobus City, An Hour Later – Rose's POV –

The delegation from the Church left soon after, with me only catching a glimpse as they left. Although that small peek hadn’t left my brain since as something kept bothering me that I couldn’t quite place, the image of a young woman with a blindfold seemingly occupying my thoughts since I’d seen her in the bodyguards that the messenger had brought with him. But why?

[Hey are yo-] - Karen

[Ah! Oh it’s just you Kare Kare, don’t startle me like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!] - Rose

[Can snakes even have heart attacks? Nevermind, I only called out to you cause you’ve been frowning for the last half hour, is something bothering you?] - Karen

[I’m not... I’m not sure. It’s just... one of the body guards of that messenger... I can’t stop thinking something was up with her, something about her seems so... familiar...] - Rose

[Which bod- Ah, the one with the blindfold... yeah I think I get what you mean now that you mention it. It feels like I know her for some reason... Huh...?] - Karen

[Hmm...?] - Rose and Karen

[Hey guys what’s... What are you two doing?!?] - Argent

[A-A-Argent, we might be interrrupting their couple time!] - Urz

[...lewd.] - Shade

Closing our eyes as we both tried hard to remember where we might have seen such a unique looking person neither of us realized how close our faces were until we were interrupted by our friends and opened our eyes to see the others directly in front of each other. Did they think...?

[W-W-We weren’t kissing!] - Rose

[...yet. Heh...] - Karen

[Y-Y-Yet?!? Uwawawawawa!] - Urz

[Hah... I keep forgetting that you two are a couple now... but even so! How can you do something so sh-shameless in public?!?] - Argent

[...perverts. Public enemy...] - Shade

[Why didn’t you stop them Annabelle? I know you said that I was not needed in assisting our mistress but this makes me-] - Argent

Oh right! Annabelle has been watching over us this whole time! She can explain away this whole misunderstanding!

[A-Annabelle! I order you to tell my friends what Karen and I were doing before they arrived.] - Rose

[Are you sure Young Miss? I do not wish to give the impression that you are bragging to anyone that may not have a partner of their own and are too cowardly to actually act on such information. Of course I would be happy to clear up this misunderstanding if you wish it so.] - Annabelle

And the return of the snarky Annabelle has come. I thought she might have gotten a bit better since she had stopped treating Karen as if she were a nuisance to be gotten rid of but I guess not. Oh well, this side of her was cute too. P-Plus Karen and I were dating now so...

[N-Nevermind then. The point was that we weren’t doing anything like that out in the open like this. N-Not that I’d mind too much...] - Rose

[...!] - Everyone

[W-Wait, did I say that out loud?] - Rose

Laughter filled the room as I realized what I’d accidently admitted to, the blush on my face plain to see for everyone. We’d soon be back to our normal lives again and nights like this only reminded us of everything that had changed since the war had started, the laughter a bit too forceful and urgent as it reminded us of those that weren’t here.