RISE OF EROS

The city was lively again as people saw that the carriages of all the nobles in the city were heading to the castle. Although the common citizens did not know the dimensions of the situation that occurred, they did know that for all the nobles of the city to be called, it was not a small thing.

With this commotion, all the important people in the city also tensed up and tried their best to find out what was going on and the Heavenly Palace was no different as Oliver sent several Shadow members to investigate.

Unfortunately, no one was able to find out anything, as the meeting in the palace had just started and the invited nobles did not know about it either. In the throne room, all the nobles of the city were gathered.

The murmurs were heard throughout the room since few of them knew what was happening and were asking the others about the situation, but it seemed that no one knew what was happening.

At that moment one of the guards announced, "Attention, His Highness King Augustus Cannaris has arrived". Then the door to the hall opened and the king appeared dressed in elegant clothes, a luxurious padded cape that trailed a little on the floor.

Various jewels adorned his chest and a solid gold scepter inlaid with various jewels. The king walked with an upright posture which made him look domineering and all those present without exception bowed their heads out of respect.

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The king did not stop to greet any of those present. In fact, he never looked at anyone, his eyes were always on the throne and only when he got there and took a seat, did he observe the gathered nobles.

At the king's stern gaze, most of the nobles shrank their necks at him. They didn't know what was happening, but seeing the king's stern expression, they felt that something bad had happened.

When everyone was undecided whether they should ask the king the reason for the summons or wait for him to speak, Zelfit the defense minister stepped forward and bowed to the king.

The king did not utter a word, he only nodded his head slightly and Zelfit, noticing this, got up and turned to face the assembled nobles and began to speak, "You have been summoned because the city faces imminent danger."

With that short introductory sentence, all the nobles put on serious expressions and Zelfit noticing that he had caught everyone's attention continued with his speech, "The black forest shows signs of a stampede of monsters."

Immediately all the nobles were surprised and several exclamations such as, "That's impossible", "Is that information reliable?", "How could it happen again?" could be heard immediately.

These thoughts are not strange, in fact, anyone with a bit of a brain would think the same as the nobles since everyone knew that the black forest was a great extinction of vegetation near the city that offers large amounts of materials thanks to monsters and plants that live there.

However, for that very reason, the monsters in this forest tend to reproduce very fast, which leads to an overpopulation of monsters that tend to escape the forest and since the capital city is the closest settlement, those monsters usually attack the city.

This is common knowledge, not only among the nobles but among all the inhabitants of the capital city, however, this attack known as "Monster Stampede" occurs every 5 years.

That was the reason why the nobles did not believe that the forest showed signs of a stampede of monsters because the last stampede had happened last year and another one was already appearing, that was not normal.

Zelfit understood the nobles perfectly, as he couldn't understand the reason either, but he had his suspicions about the event and since he had already discussed this with the king in private before coming here, he decided to share his thoughts with the nobles.

"Gentlemen, calm down. I know you have doubts, in fact, I have discussed it with the Majesty and we are the same as you, but the information is not false, there really are signs of a stampede of monsters".

"Marquis Zelfit, don't beat around the bush, tell us your thoughts," said one of the nobles a little impatiently, he was Count Goston so Zelfit said, "It's strange that two years in a row there's a stampede in the black forest, so, although I have no proof, it is very likely that it will not be natural".

"Are you saying someone is causing a stampede of monsters?" Earl Goston asked in surprise and he wasn't the only one, several other nobles were similar.

"Is it even possible?" Earl Goston asked after coming out of his stupefaction, and Marquis Zelfit replied, "I don't know, however, the stampede is a fact. That two stampedes occur in 5 years is possible, but one every year, that is not normal".

His statement silenced all the nobles because they knew that Zelfit was right. Cases where stampedes occur every 3 years have been recorded in antiquity, but never a stampede every year.

Also, they were worried, as these stampedes were an event that hurt them every time. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed, money was wasted. These stampedes only generated trouble and while it was true that the bodies of the slain monsters developed money, it didn't really make up for the losses.

Seeing that everyone was silent, the king spoke, "Gentlemen, regardless of whether it is natural or not, the stampede must be combated, so assemble your men. According to the estimates, it will happen in two or three days, so we must prepare ourselves".

Although with pouting faces, they all replied, "As your majesty commands" and planned to leave, the king spoke again, "Once the stampede is over, I will send a special team to check the causes of the stampede, so don't worry".

When the nobles heard the king assure that he would send a team to investigate, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They were clear that, if the king made that promise to them, he would fulfill it since he was a man of his word, and knowing the reputation of the king's men, the nobles could breathe easy.

After all the nobles left, the king looked at Zelfit who was still in the throne room, and said, "There is no need to wait for the stampede to end. I will send some members of Hell to investigate, you will be in charge of commanding the defense."

Zelfit replied seriously, "It will be done as you order", and after bowing slightly he left the room. No one had noticed that the king had a strange expression on his face and softly called out, "Demon."

From the shadows emerged a man completely dressed in black, his entire body covered by a hood and cloak. You couldn't even tell if he was lean or muscular, as his body couldn't be distinguished from his clothes.

When the king saw the man appear, he said softly, "You heard everything. I share Zelfit's idea, this stampede is unnatural, but I suspect that someone betrayed the kingdom, so investigate and bring it to me."

The man did not utter a word and again withdrew into the shadows after giving a slight nod. The king knew that this man called "Demon", was the most loyal and powerful assassin of the empire and had served the empire for three generations.

That's right, that assassin is over 100 years old, yet despite his loyalty to the empire, no one has ever been able to see his face. Even though the whole world knows about the existence of this "Demon", only the king has seen it in person without dying and even though the king has seen him, he had only done it in the way that had just happened.

In other words, he had only seen the hooded figure. Even his voice had not been heard, since the demon had never spoken in front of the king, he just listened and nodded to show that he understood and even when he transmits some information he does so in writing.

The demon is an enigma even to the king himself, but he still trusts him and this is due to the fact that on the day King Augustus Cannaris ascended the throne, this demon appeared and asked him to form a master-slave contract.

That's right, "Demon" is a slave and of his own free will. The king knew that this was to demonstrate the man's loyalty and to date the king has not a single complaint, because thanks to him, he has managed to prevent many crises for the empire.

Shortly after the meeting in the palace ended and the nobles returned to their respective mansions, news of the stampede that would hit the city in two or three days spread.

Just like the nobles, all the inhabitants of the capital city were shocked and in disbelief, but when they saw the nobles making preparations for the defense of the city, they had no choice but to believe it.

In the Heavenly Palace, the situation was no different. Although Andrew is not originally from this city since he settled here, he had been informed of particular events that occurred, such as festivals and similar things, and the black forest stampedes were one of the events that he learned of.

Like most people, he was surprised that a stampede would happen two years in a row when normally it's one every 5 years and he too thought it was strange, but it wasn't something he could worry about.

Andrew is a businessman, so he did not need to worry about these problems, however, he would suffer the consequences because his business would suffer at that time.