Free Web NovelChapter 25: Demon meeting.
With one hand on her chest, Kara proceeded to explain the process to her master.
"The demon council consists of the world’s elite demon lords, each ruling a domain of their own."
She paused.
"There are many demon kings, those who rule over one hundred demons. But that said, there are far fewer demon lords, those capable of leveling a hundred demons on their own."
Then she pointed at Adrian.
"You, my lord, are about to be included in the demon council as the eighth demon lord."
Adrian, calm as always, sat with his knees crossed, his gaze turned toward the carriage window.
’The eighth demon lord. Title-wise, it sounds respectable enough. But what benefit does that actually bring me beyond status?’
[The status alone can help you in more ways than you currently anticipate.]
Adrian threw the system a flat, judgmental look.
’Since when do you weigh in on my choices?’
[...]
He exhaled through his nose.
"Is there anything else I should know about them?"
He directed the question toward Kara. Valentina glanced over at her as well, waiting.
"Uhm... yes, actually." Kara straightened slightly. "Demons respect strength above everything else and have nothing but contempt for weakness. If you show even a trace of it, my lord, they will exploit it without hesitation."
"So what Lord Adrian needs to do," Valentina said, picking up the thread with her usual composure, "is simply remain calm."
Then they both turned to look at him.
Because if the task was to remain calm, they both understood what that actually meant in practice.
Remaining calm was not something Adrian struggled with under ordinary circumstances.
But demons with oversized pride and a habit of saying exactly the wrong thing were not ordinary circumstances.
Those were precisely the kind of people their master enjoyed putting in their place.
Adrian caught their expressions and rolled his eyes.
"Relax. I have no intention of overreacting over every little provocation. Having an entire faction of demon lords set against me is not something I need right now."
"Are you certain, my lord?" Kara pressed, tilting her head. "Demons can be... well..."
"If it comes to that, then the two of you will handle it in my stead. You are more than capable."
"Of course. I would do anything for you, my lord." Kara lit up immediately.
"I — I would as well." Valentina followed, just a half-second behind, which she clearly noticed and chose not to draw attention to.
Adrian stared at both of them for a long moment, then let out a slow sigh.
But one thing, at the very least, was now clear to him.
He knew exactly how to complete the quest.
...
It took nearly a full day of travel before the group finally arrived in Thornwall County.
The difference was apparent before they even passed through the gates.
Where Ashmere had been rebuilt gradually, structure by structure, through deliberate effort and careful planning, Thornwall had always been wealthy in the way that old territories were — not because anyone had built something, but because no one had ever allowed it to decay.
Wide paved roads ran clean between buildings that stood several stories tall, draped in merchant banners and guild insignias.
The market district alone occupied more ground than most of Ashmere’s original town square.
Foot traffic moved in every direction with the casual density of a place that did not need to advertise its prosperity because it simply assumed it. free𝑤ebnovel.com
Adrian observed it from the window without expression.
’So this is what eight years of leaving things alone looks like.’
’To their credit, they have not wasted it.’
Valentina sat forward slightly, taking in the streets with the analytical stillness of someone quietly cataloguing everything she saw.
"The merchant activity here is substantially higher than the last time I passed through," she remarked.
"Three new guildhalls from the look of it. Textile, transit, and what appears to be a caster’s supply operation."
"Note it," Adrian said.
"Already have."
The carriage moved at an easy pace through the central road, drawing a few glances from passersby but nothing that held for long.
They had not announced themselves, and the carriage bore no crest. To anyone on the street, they were simply travelers.
It was not long before that changed.
A sound came from ahead, measured footsteps cutting through the ambient noise of the city, and the driver drew the carriage to a gentle stop. Adrian glanced through the window.
Four soldiers stood in a clean line across the road. Not the militia-grade variety Thornwall had once relied on.
These were men in full formal dress, bearing the count’s seal and carrying themselves with the kind of unhurried certainty that came from not doubting whether anyone would listen.
One of them stepped forward and addressed the driver.
"We are looking for a party traveling from Ashmere County. If this is that party, you are asked to follow us."
Adrian said nothing. He leaned back in his seat.
"Follow them," he told the driver.
...
They were brought through a side entrance of the count’s estate, away from the main thoroughfare and the eyes that lined it. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
The grounds inside were immaculate, the kind that spoke of staff who had nothing better to do than maintain them. The gardens were trimmed to geometric precision. Every stone path was swept.
It was, Adrian reflected, an estate that had been rebuilt to prove something to someone.
He stepped out of the carriage and straightened his coat.
Before he could take more than two steps, the doors ahead opened.
Victor Gremont walked out.
Eight years had made certain changes impossible to overlook. He was broader through the shoulder, the boyish lines of his face settled into something harder and more deliberate.
He wore the uniform of his title without the performative elegance he had once favored, as though he no longer needed the clothing to do any work on his behalf.
His blond hair was tied back the same way it had always been.
His arms — both of them, fully intact — hung naturally at his sides.
He came down the steps with the unhurried ease of a man greeting someone he had been looking forward to seeing for a considerable amount of time.
Then he placed one fist to his chest and bowed his head, low and genuine, without a trace of anything that resembled reluctance.
"My lord. You honor me with your presence."
Kara and Valentina exchanged a brief glance.
Adrian stopped in front of him.
"You look well, Victor."
Victor lifted his head, and there was something on his face that Adrian had rarely seen there during the first years of their arrangement, a kind of settled pride, the sort that had nothing to do with ego and everything to do with knowing exactly where one stood.
"I am, my lord. Better than I have any right to be, given the man I was when you first showed me mercy." He straightened and gestured toward the entrance.
"Please, come inside. I have had rooms prepared and refreshments laid out. If you would allow me even a single hour before the evening’s business begins, I intend to make a proper case for Thornwall’s contributions to the county this quarter."
Adrian made a deadpan ish look.
"That can wait," Adrian said, already moving toward the steps. "Walk with me. I want to hear what has changed since your last report."
Victor fell in beside him immediately, matching his pace without being asked.
"Of course. Then allow me to begin with the eastern grain negotiations — "
"After you tell me what you know about this evening’s arrangement."
A brief pause.
"Very little, by design," Victor replied. "Only that the parties involved requested absolute discretion and that no formal record be kept of the meeting’s location." He glanced sideways. "I assumed that was your preference as well."
"It was."
They passed through the entrance, and the sounds of the city fell away behind them.
Inside, the estate was warm and well-lit, the staff moving with practiced efficiency through the corridors. Someone had clearly been told to expect guests, though the household carried no visible signs of tension. Whatever was coming, Victor had absorbed it without letting it ripple outward.
"Your subordinates are remarkable, as always," Victor said, nodding once toward Valentina and Kara as they followed at a respectful distance. "The demon queen carries herself differently than the last time I saw her. More settled, perhaps."
"She always does when she is about to have something to look forward to," Adrian replied.
From behind them, Kara made a small, pleased sound that she did not bother to conceal.
Victor suppressed a smile with modest success.
They were shown to a receiving room on the upper floor, wide and well-appointed, with tall windows looking out over the estate grounds. A table had been set along the far wall, refreshments arranged with the kind of deliberate care that said someone had spent more time on it than they would admit.
Adrian settled into one of the chairs. Victor remained standing nearby, as though sitting would require a permission he had not been granted.
"You have done well with this place," Adrian said, glancing around the room.
Victor straightened almost imperceptibly at the words.
"It is yours, my lord. Everything here is yours. I am only its caretaker until you decide otherwise."
He meant it. That much was always evident.
In the early years, Adrian had half expected the loyalty to be performative, the compliance of a man who had no remaining cards to play.
But it had settled, over time, into something more difficult to categorize.
Victor had grown into his defeat the way some men grew into their best years, by understanding it fully and deciding to build from it instead.
He had not wasted the opportunity.
[Name: Victor Gremont.
Class: SSS Sword Saint.
Rank: Fourth Circle Caster.
Loyalty: 97%.]
Adrian let the appraisal screen fade without comment.
He already knew most of it. He had been watching the numbers climb for years.
Victor began walking him through the county’s trade figures, citing them from memory with the practiced confidence of a man who had spent a considerable amount of time preparing to do exactly this.
His points were clean and specific.
He had clearly anticipated the questions Adrian would ask before asking them.
Kara had moved to the window and was looking out over the grounds with the kind of stillness she only adopted when something had drawn her attention below the surface.
Adrian noticed it before anyone else did.
"Kara."
"I feel them," she said, her voice dropping into the lower register it took on when she was focused.
She turned from the window, and her ember-bright eyes settled on him with a precision that made the air in the room feel slightly different.
"Three of them, at minimum. Moving toward the estate from the northern approach." A pause. "The meeting will start soon, my lord."
Victor’s expression shifted just slightly — not with fear, but with the focused alertness of a man who had learned to read the room.
Adrian rose from his chair, unhurried.
He smoothed the front of his coat once, glanced briefly at Valentina, and then looked toward the door.
"Then we should not keep them waiting."
