"Before we begin, my lord. I would like to greet you on your birthday."
"You should have greeted the mont you saw , you monocled bastard," I said sarcastically.
"Oh? I must have thought you were just a random disgusting pervert, my lord. Please forgive , Happy Birthday!"
At his comnt, the rest of the girls greeted similarly.
"Patron! Happy birthday! Since I know you already drowned in birthday sex, I will end it with just a greeting. Otherwise, I would have put myself naked in a box tied up with ribbons!"
"Yvonne! Girl, the Sirens will bury you at this rate! My Lord, in accordance with your special day, the Ten Graves and I have prepared a gift for you. We will present it to you when we welco you to Hellsgate."
"Limitless, can I get an interview? Just say sothing like, 'Hello everyone, this is Limitless, I am still, you know, alive?' you know, for the record."
"Happy birthday, my lord, I hope you enjoyed your honeymoon well. The ladies were VERY interested in so of the materials in the honeymoon package we sent. I trust you were pleased."
Hearing all these people chirping at once gave a migraine. I held up my hand as I responded to them one by one.
"Yvonne, that constitutes sexual harassnt. I will demote you to janitor if you keep this up."
"Cynthia, thanks for the thought. I look forward to it."
"Connie, the girls and I will resu hunting tonight, just tag along or sothing."
"Lucrecia, yes, the girls and I used most of them. The only ones we left untouched are the body transformation ones. Take them back. And everything else. Send another batch."
Our chief saint pouted unhappily at my rebuke. Cynthia nodded respectfully. Connie pumped her fist excitedly. Lucrecia, on the other hand, bowed as she continued.
"My Lord, I cannot thank you and Lady Rhiannon enough for what you have done. Vincent and Alicia told what happened. Thank you so much."
"Raise your head. I only support those I find worthy. I will be involved in battles of imnse magnitude in the coming months. I need your support now more than ever."
"You shall have it, my lord. The Derycks are prepared to do whatever we can to help you. Co what may."
I nodded at Lucrecia's response. Instead of great vows, she ended it with a simple thank you. Rather than empty words, she and her husband proved their worth through action and rit.
That was why I could trust her and Vincent. Neither was stupid enough to blindly follow soone to their demise. They saw no future with Raymond, so they left. They took risks and bet everything on .
Such actions may have seed foolish, but it was a calculated risk that showed imnse prudence. Their ability to discern my needs and preferences was probably the reason they were convinced that I was the best choice.
I learned this not only from my interactions with her, but also with Vincent. If you listen to the words behind the couple, all of their promises co with strings attached. They did not follow out of loyalty like the 2nd Andnt or the saints.
They did so because I provided what they needed. Protection as they laid their foundations and the ability to weaponize their imnse financial power. I expected that the mont I could no longer provide both, they would simply leave.
'Such thinking suited well. Right now, the only people I trust completely are my girls.'
Phillip coughed to remind us of his presence. When he saw that he had my undivided attention, he continued.
"My lord, the information I am about to share with you is classified even to the upper echelons of Administration. I only learned of it when I was assigned to clean up the paper archives of the Battlefronts for my pitiful performance. It was a punishnt given to the clerks with the least contributions."
"And you want to share this information with ? For free? Aren't you going to ask for so kind of paynt?" I asked a little hesitantly.
Phillip chuckled as he nodded.
"Yes, my lord. As I said, I will follow you to the end of your journey. This information is perhaps the last I can give you as I have only been a Reaper for 4 years. However, the nature of the information is quite sensitive. thus, I suggest you choose only those you truly trust."
I looked around at the people surrounding . I had Yvonne, our head saint. Cynthia, the head of the Ten Graves. Lucrecia, the matriarch of the Deryck family. And Connie, the head of the newly ford Hellsend dia, who also happened to be Zach's wife.
Yvonne had already shown how loyal she was when she turned down an offer from David Thomas. That and the fact that she was the head of Hellsend's Saint Division and Vela's Wolves.
Cynthia has been with since my first night. Even though it was only two weeks ago, she has always been one of my irreplaceable subordinates, she was the one who led the production reapers to support .
Both Yvonne and Cynthia even ca to my aid when I was fighting a demon. So, unlike the other two, they were part of my inner circle.
Lucrecia, on the other hand, was not only talented in dealing with people, but also had a unique ability to negotiate and gather information. Even though she was human, the report she and her husband produced was on par with the leak Aki brought to .
Her loyalty was a bit unproven, but I had already promised her to be my vassal.
As for Connie, she was here for a single purpose, to beco strong enough to regain her position as Zach's wife. She also seed to want to do sothing to bring back mories of Zach's first wife, Emily.
Of the four here, her loyalty was the most questionable. However, I believed in her goal of wanting stronger, until she grew in strength, I was sure she would never betray my trust. It was not in her best interest to do so.
"Please continue, I don't mind if they hear."
"Should we call the Sirens? Or the n in the living room?" Phillip suggested.
"The Sirens will learn from . As for the n, they are like , they don't give a shit about the complicated stuff. I will tell them what I think they need to know."
"Understood, then I will begin. My lord, the information I will share will take into account that you are not just a death seeker, but a battlefront king. Or an unofficial Revenant."
Phillip raised his hand and created a soul cage. This was one of the basic abilities of the Phantoms. It was sothing that Wraiths needed soulgears to even create. I couldn't help but feel proud as I watched the monocled bastard show off his skills.
When the six of us were covered by the cage, my head clerk began.
"My lord, in short, to facilitate an enlistnt, you need three things. One was a soul offering of 10 million for each battlefront. The ability to purify the malice of thousands of people. And finally, a willing group of people worth the cost of the offering."
"Wait, back up, there was too much in that one sentence! Go through each one."
"Okay, my lord. All I will say from this point on is the dark side of running a battlefront that most would never learn about. First, as you know, there is an official armistice between the battle fronts.
"In order for your side to grow in numbers, it is customary to make a donation to the other Revenants. That way, there are no hard feelings."
"I can understand that, but 10 million souls? Each? So, if I were to do it, I would have to pay 70 million souls before I even got to do anything?" I asked dumbfounded.
"Yes, that would have been the case. But the unofficial dissolution of that agreent ans that there are now no limits to the creation of Reapers. This ans that starting in August, you can expect the number of official Reapers to swell by ten to a hundred tis what it is now."
Reviews
All reviews (0)