The room fell into complete silence. Everyone was staring directly at Khan.
Huh? What is he thinking? They’s definitely going to kill us... Darui thought.
Not giving ti for further thoughts, Khan continued.
"Since everyone froze after the proposal, I’ll take the opportunity to introduce us, as I couldn’t find a proper mont earlier. I am Khan."
After a pause, he continued, "That one a bit ahead is Azathoth. The girls to my right are Shubniggurath, Iris, and Livia. To my left, Luxian, Lilith, and Alice."
The small beings introduced themselves right after. "I am Tarkus Lantches, and this is my son, Darui Lantches. The three in the back are Alia, Kain, and Lupos. The others—"
"Alright, that’s enough. I don’t want to waste ti."
What the hell was that? Is he trying to provoke Tarkus?
Tarkus felt offended but held back. Not everyone managed to.
"HEY! WASN’T THAT RUDE!?" a squire shouted, filled with murderous intent.
Seriously... there had to be an idiot in the group...
A living armor activated from the squire’s intent, making a thunderous sound. It bent its arm and hurled a massive spear at him.
So fast that no one could react. Unfortunately, three others were beside the squire.
All four were impaled and thrown off the carpet, pinned to the ground.
Darui felt only a gust of wind brush past his back. Turning his head slowly, he saw the bodies skewered on the floor.
W-What the hell was that? I didn’t even see sothing that big pass by...
As the impaled ones scread in agony, a delayed commotion broke out. Screams and shock echoed throughout the hall.
Tarkus turned to Khan, drawing his sword. Darui could only stare, frozen.
After a few more seconds of pain, the four died.
"W-WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Tarkus yelled at Khan, enraged.
Khan replied with a bored tone, "I simply removed the noise."
Fucking psycho. Do you even rember what it ans to be human?
The armor began walking toward the spear it had thrown.
Is this it...? Are we going to die like this?
Tarkus, thinking it was preparing to a fight, infused Qi into his sword out of fear.
Khan spoke, "Don’t worry. I have no intention of killing anyone else. He’s just retrieving what belongs to him."
The armor passed by them. Still on high alert, they watched as it stepped on the corpses’ lower halves, crushing them to the ground to retrieve the spear.
After pulling it out, the floor restored itself, and the armor returned to its decorative stance.
Was that necessary? What the shit was that... It’s not cool in real life. It’s grotesque... it stinks... and it makes hate Khan even more for this.
"I think we need to get rid of these bodies..." Khan said, pausing briefly before continuing, "Gurath, can you take care of that?"
Before anything else could happen, Tarkus interrupted. "We’ll take care of it. We want to bring them back."
Khan simply replied with a mocking tone.
"Sure, be my guest."
Then he continued.
"I assu we’re not in the mood to keep talking after this... your expressions aren’t exactly great. So? Have you decided whether you want to stay or not?"
He asked that now, seriously ?
Tarkus replied with a question, "May I be honest?"
Khan replied quickly, "Go ahead."
"We’d like to leave now. And as for whether we’re enemies or not... I believe you already know the answer," Tarkus said boldly.
Iris smiled at the man’s courage and answer.
anwhile, hidden beneath the cloth, Khan’s lips curled into a smile, revealing sharp teeth, as his eyes turned a glowing pink.
Fucking... That bastard had planned to make us enemies from the very start?
Returning to his usual bored expression and blue orbs, Khan calmly said,
"I understand. I’ll wait for new opportunities. I hope we can turn this unpleasant page soti in the future."
Is he trying to piss Tarkus off? What’s with his behavior?
"Can we go now?" Tarkus asked, keeping calm.
"Of course," Khan, said with a slight smile.
Why did he smile again?
Luxian raised her hands to neck height and clapped once.
Shit. He’s planning to kill us all.
The sound echoed throughout the hall, and only one person reacted in desperation—Darui.
As space distorted around him, he looked at Khan in panic.
Khan was staring at him coldly.
But nothing happened. A portal just appeared beside him.
Huh? Why? Did Iris report sothing weird to him?
Still under Khan’s intense gaze, Darui looked away and helped carry the bodies through the portal.
Once everyone passed through, now in the forest beneath the island, the portal closed behind them.
Now silence surrounded them, broken only by the chirping of a few birds.
Tarkus yelled, "DARUI! What were you thinking!? You know you almost died back there, right!?"
I heard it all but couldn’t say anything—he was right.
Tarkus just sighed and cald down. "Haah... I’ll save the scolding for later. Let’s get out of here and report how dangerous the island is."
Worried, Alia asked, "Are you alright, Darui?"
"Yeah... just shaken up by what happened."
"I see..."
As Alia walked beside him, Darui thought,
Damn it. I shouldn’t have done anything... I ssed everything up...
------
anwhile, back in the throne hall, Khan was thinking.
He definitely knows sothing...
Setting those thoughts aside, he sighed and muttered,
"I think I played the role well..."
"What an interesting person you found, Iris," I said as everyone began walking toward .
"Right?~ He definitely knew what that clap ant," Iris said, cheerful as ever.
"Can you tell what he was feeling, Lilith?"
"Hm~," Lilith let out a soft sound, thought for a mont, then said, "Despair, fear... and a bit of hatred?"
"Interesting. What about the others?"
"Doubt and curiosity."
Putting my hand to my chin, I thought.
Yeah... going along with Iris’s tyrant act paid off. But I’m still unsure if killing those four was really necessary...
"It’s done now. Satisfied, Iris?" I asked the little elf standing in front of .
"Huhum~," she humd, then added, "Yes, I am. Honestly, you’d have done the sa if you saw the mories of the won I brought... or of one child in particular. Her na’s Lucy. That country is rotten. It’s not worth forming ties with them."
She had ntioned finding so won and children in a goblin settlent. But I don’t know the whole story yet—whatever made her so emotional. Either way, I need to confirm a few things first.
With everyone’s eyes on —a beautiful sight I was finally getting used to—I spoke.
"Hm, right... First, I’d like to say that we’ll follow Azathoth’s plan. We’ll head to the coastal regions and try to form an alliance with Azure. We’ll leave a large part of the island facing the sea, and the ruined regions toward land."
I paused, then asked, "Any questions?"
One ca from an unexpected source.
"Will we receive more visitors?" asked a soft voice—Shubniggurath.
"I don’t know. I plan to hold any etings outside the island."
Honestly, it itches just watching them step into this hall—into this island. I didn’t expect that to happen...
I asked again, "Any other questions?"
Silence...
"Then, I’d like to visit the orphanage. Can you guide , Iris?"
"Sorry... I’ll have Livia guide you. She’s already a bit familiar with the kids. I’d like to keep an eye on the group that just left..." Iris said in a tone that wasn’t her usual cheerful self.
Not thinking much about it, I just said, "Alright, I’ll be in your care, Livia."
Livia answered enthusiastically, "Leave it to , my dear Creator."
"You know, you could be less formal, Livia. I feel bad being the only one still speak formally to."
Livia blushed and breathed a little heavier, "Really?~ Then I’ll do my best, Khan~."
Sighing internally, I thought, Seriously... she’s hard to deal with. I fear the day she’ll give in to those feelings and jump ... Not that it’d be a bad thing... Wait, what am I thinking?
Pushing those thoughts aside, I asked,
"Do any of you have anything to do?"
Hoping soone would co with .
Unlucky as usual, they all answered, "Yes."
"I see..."
Getting up, I saw Livia already by my side, and we walked out together.
Only the two of us headed to the orphanage.
Those who stayed began talking among themselves.
"Was it okay to leave Livia alone with Khan?" Luxian asked.
"Ah~, what’s the big deal? Worst case, we’ll find a few ssed-up rooms. It’s not like she’s going to kill him or anything~," Iris replied, trying to defend her sister.
Shubniggurath gave her plushie a soft squeeze, and Alice disappeared from the hall.
"You know, Iris... you’re acting a bit strange. Did sothing happen?" Azathoth asked.
Iris, now panicked at the thought of being found out, answered,
"M-? N-No. Of course not. Anyway, I’ll get going. I need to monitor the people who left the island."
Iris ran off and disappeared from everyone’s sight.
"That girl... she’s a terrible liar," Azathoth murmured.
"Better just let her go. She’s always up to sothing anyway—it’s nothing new~," Lilith said, clearly amused.
"I suppose we should get back to work..." Shubniggurath added.
The others simply nodded and went their separate ways.
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