Sinthia and The Demon Duke of DeSidea: 26

“Are you going to write back, Your Grace?”

Kairn sat on his horse, leading it bleakly down a dirt road. Elias followed behind him on his own horse, curiously peeking over.

Kairn didn’t answer him. In fact, it would seem that he had elected to ignore his aide completely. “Are you mad.... that I took Sinthia’s side?”

No answer.

“W-well, please know that it’s for your own good Your Grace! Really.”

Still no reply.

“Your Grace....” Elias whined, feeling very sad that Kairn was ignoring him. It was not his fault the idea of sprinkling flowers on his master and Sinthia as they happily walked down the isle like he had read in novels was so appealing.

“The magic stones that we have been mining. How has their quality been?” Kairn asked.

“Oh! Yes, Your Grace. They have been testing very well in terms of magical output. Many of them have elemental qualities as is in demand.”

Human beings could not cast spells and use magic, but magic stones—which had a limited amount of magic in them as well as attributes—were things that could be utilized by them. To demons and other magical creatures, most were not very useful. But DeSidea was rich in these stones. Kairn had decided to export some of them to the humans. However, negotiations were proving difficult with some kingdoms because of their fear of demons and the possibility that the stones possessed some strange demonic qualities that may be dangerous. It frustrated Kairn sometimes, but he always reminded himself that that was how humans were.

That is why he was not convinced about Sinthia and her grand desire to dispel some of the myths people had about him. In all honesty, he would be much more ready to accept it if she had wanted to have a wedding for her own selfish gain. It would have been sensible then. But the reasons she was giving didn’t make sense. Not to him at least. But he didn’t want to think of that now. “Oh! The Emperor must have arrived my now.” Elias thought to himself loudly. The emperor?

“What are you talking about?”

“For the Silk light Festival.”

Again with the talk about Sinthia. If it were possible, he would ban Elias from speaking about her or things to do with her, but he knew Elias. He would probably fall sick and cry every day if he couldn’t talk about whatever he was currently obsessed over. “Who is attending?”

“The emperor and crown prince of The Nova Empire.”

Kairn came to a stop. “The emperor and the crown prince?”

Elias nodded. Kairn turned away, thinking deeply. “And why would both such important people come for a mere festival.”

Elias shrugged. “There are a handful of reasons I could think of.”

“And they are?”

“The emperor and the king are apparently very close to each other. They were schoolmates back in the day. Maybe they’re friendly.”

“Plausible. But the emperor is a busy and powerful man. He would not go all the way there. If anything, the Ophelian King would have gone to visit instead. And not to mention he brought his son, a crown prince along too.”

“Yes. It could be that he is looking for a wife for him too. The Ophelian princesses are pretty I’m told.”

“No. He wouldn’t go in person to look for a wife. At most, he would call for a grand ball and have as many capable women attend and pick at his leisure. Plus the emperor would feel very strange to be indirectly involved with the house of DeSidea through the Ophelian royal family. I feel strange about it too.”

“There could be a secret reason known only to the king and the emperor.”

“It’s likely that.”

“Or...”

“Or?”

Elias’ eyes became very sharp, and the smile that curved his lips were not one of his usual naive joy.

“Or they are scouting the Ophelian Kingdom.”

Oh. So that’s how it was. “And what do you think they could be scouting?”

“Many things. The terrain, the military, the farms and rivers, the royal house itself. There could be very many things they are looking out for.”

“There hasn’t been a full-blown human war in a very long time, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Your Grace. The humans have been very weary of fighting each other in case the Great Demon Lord attacked. They had forced themselves to stay quiet and resolve things in other ways because war amongst kingdoms would weaken the kingdoms too much, and the Great Demon Lord May have taken advantage of that.”

“But it has been more than half a millennia since The Great Demon Lord and Eltrea made a peace treaty. And they have been honoring their end.”

“Correct, Your Grace.”

“Then in simple terms, they can finally fight amongst themselves without the fear of being blindsided by a demon attack.”

“Considering how we go out of our way to stay out of all human affairs, yes.” Indeed. Demons did not ever interfere with human beings. Their appearance in human lands was rare, and often of a diplomatic nature or a rogue, mindless demon that wandered out of some crevice.

“How have the exports for the stones with battle capabilities been doing.”

“Their demand is rising. Especially amongst the Central Alliance.” Kairn smiled. The central alliance consisted of the five human kingdoms in the very center of the continent. One of them was the Nova empire. Their geographic positioning meant that they had four directions they could be attacked from, so it was not at all strange that the Nova empire and its allies were beefing up security.

And as for the possible reason that the Novan Emperor and Crown Prince went to Ophelia. “Isn’t the Ophelian Kingdom between the Central alliance and the Eastern Triumvirate?”

Elias nodded slowly, his smile getting larger and more sinister.

“Ah. And if I’m correct, the Eastern Triumvirate consisted of the Bell Kingdom, the Kritin Kingdom....”

“And the Empire of Ira.”

I cry w this