Damien and Brontus didn't have a long conversation.
Since Damien received what he wanted and Brontus wasn't so free as to spend great amounts of ti following his activities, the two separated not long after their eting.
Brontus returned to his clan, where he went to et Persia, while Damien once again found himself aimlessly wandering through the palace.
At least, for another half an hour or so.
"...ord!"
"...ng Lord!"
"Young Lord!"
"Hm?"
The voice of a young maid brought him out of his thoughts.
He'd been detailing his plans after learning everything he needed to know, so he sowhat drowned out the real world for a bit.
The maid was standing not far from him, but he didn't notice her at all.
It was clear she'd been trying to find him for a while now from the way she was panting with her hands on her knees.
"Did you need sothing from ?" Damien asked.
"How could I ever?" The maid hurriedly replied back.
"The Madam has tasked with leading you to your residence. Please allow to show you the way."
"My residence…?"
Damien didn't really think about it, but it seed there was a place waiting for him in the palace.
It was convenient. To have a place all to himself, a ho of his own, would make a lot of things easier.
He never really considered where he'd sleep or how he'd fit into the Void Palace structure, but since it was already sorted out by his mother, his mind was set at ease.
"Very well, let's go."
The maid bowed upon receiving his confirmation and led him through the halls of the palace, with purpose this ti.
They went through several planar leaps and displacents, leaving the area of the main palace Damien had already explored. They went past the room where Damien first t his mother and the rest, which was thoroughly sealed still, and eventually reached an area where the path split into only two ways.
"It's this way, Young Lord," the maid said, taking him through the path on the left.
"What's through the other hall?" Damien asked curiously.
"That's…" the maid hesitated for a second.
"The Lord's residence."
"Ah…"
Damien glanced that way.
It was Dante's abode. The place where his father spent many years of his life and the place where his most important things would be.
'I need to go there eventually, but not now.'
Now wasn't the ti to focus on Dante, who wasn't here.
Now, he needed to keep onto Void Palace in mind.
'Problems with the armies, problems with the elders, problems with outside influences, problems with the 12 Swords…'
There was a lot to solve. It would take a lot of ti and effort, but Damien already had a ga plan to get it all done within a few years.
'Luckily, these kinds of problems solve each other. As long as I deal with them in the right order, the later ones will be so easy to fix that they won't even be worth ntioning anymore.'
Damien nodded to himself.
'That should be alright. Then, firstly–'
"Young Lord, we have arrived."
Damien glanced up.
"Oh?"
He was expecting just a luxurious room and so space in the palace as would usually be given to a Young Lord, but he was wrong.
First of all, he and the maid were outside, not in the main palace anymore.
Second of all, this place was practically an estate of its own, with several hundreds of thousands of kiloters of land surrounding the mansion-like residence.
And third of all, the place was already packed with people. Servants, chefs, guards, and anyone else relevant for the upkeep of an estate of this level was already provided, as if they'd been living here waiting for Damien's arrival for years.
Damien thanked the maid and dismissed her before sending his awareness through the land.
"This is the place, huh…"
He grinned, pleasantly surprised.
"It's way more than I could've asked for, but I'm not one to complain about free stuff."
This was a good starting point.
'I'll settle in here and lay low for a while. When the ti is right…'
Damien's eyes glinted with a strange light.
There were snakes in the grass, slithering and lurking. They wouldn't co out if he kept moving around, since they didn't have much power on their own, but the second he dropped his guard, they'd pounce together and bring him down.
Before they could make any moves, he would slaughter them all.
And for that purpose, he would wait.
***
"We need to act now. There is no more ti to sit on the sidelines and pretend."
"But how?! We do not have any power, nor have we been accepted by anyone else! We are dood. We made the wrong choice. Just accept it."
"Why are you panicking? Does the appearance of a single Young Lord truly make you feel such fear?"
"It's not about the Young Lord! Didn't you hear it yourself? The Sapientia Clan denied us information on him! That either ans he is soone they're protecting, or his information is worth a price we cannot handle!"
"And what? He is the Young Lord of Void Palace. We always knew we were fighting an impossible fight, but we decided to fight it anyway. All of us have our own greed and reasons, but we have co together for this purpose, so it is already too late to do anything else. We must see this through to the end, or the only end for us is a dishonorable death."
There were many of them, 16 to be specific.
Sixteen people who'd been working together for the past few dozens of millennia.
They were under Void Palace, but they were not loyal. No, they'd been slowly selling out their benefactors to the enemy for personal profit.
Their reasons didn't need to be explained, nor did their actions for the past few millennia. In reality, none of them had the capability to do what they wished to do, but they didn't realize that until now.
Because in the past, they'd been supported by the Divine Order. The neighboring influence aided their plans in return for their help in taking down Void Palace from the inside.
The appearance of the so-called Young Lord ruined everything for them.
Void Palace was a turtle hiding in its shell until now. Without Dante, the rest of them didn't make any special moves or try too hard to be involved in the outside world.
This allowed others to take advantage of them and slowly disperse their influence.
However, if the rumors about the new Young Lord's appearance were true, Void Palace would gain a head.
With a head, Void Palace would be able to thrive.
The Divine Order was just as aware of that as others, if not more.
Therefore, they gave an order to their people on the inside.
"Find a way to kill the Young Lord. Otherwise, we will withdraw our support."
The Divine Order was taking a more passive stance until they knew what the new and mysterious character they were dealing with was like.
And for that purpose, they'd abandoned the 16 Elders they'd been working with until now.
"So we have no choice."
The one who spoke was called Rufus Fladark. He was the head of this coalition of Elders, the one who spoke for the rest.
"We must kill the Young Lord. If we do not try, we die. If we confess, we die. If we fail, we die."
They would die if they succeeded too, but he didn't need to ntion it.
The Divine Order was their last hope.
If they could be pulled out after they accomplished the task, they'd live.
It was barely enough to be called a hope. It was really just a way for them to convince themselves they had hope.
But regardless, they had to hold it.
Because it was all they had left.
They felt regret, they felt despair, and they felt rage.
They could bla nobody but themselves for their current predicant.
So just as they entered this bullshit coup on their own terms, they would die the sa way.
They would accomplish sothing.
They would kill the Young Lord.
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