Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"H-How does the captain know the demon?"...

"It was a mission ordered by the princess, doesn't that mean she is also acquainted with this demon?".

Unable to keep their curiosity in check, they started whispering to each other.

"If you guys don't want to die, then keep quiet. Where do you think you are in currently? This dungeon is the lair of that demon, if you displease him, not even your corpse would stay intact".

Seeing the young fellows forget the situation and start racketing, the assassin chided. Amongst the group except for Alvara, he was the only one who wasn't fazed by the appearance of the demon.

"T-This dungeon is his lair?" as expected, these fellows weren't aware of that and as soon as they heard that, their faces visibly paled and they shut their mouths.

Alvara who could hear them hullabaloo from her position, sighed internally and focused her gaze back on the demon who appeared much too relaxed even though he was outnumbered by them.

"I'm here on a secret mission on the orders of the princess, I believe you know who I am talking about" Alvara stated, she didn't like going around and talking in circles, thus she quickly came to the point. 𝐟𝙧ee𝔀e𝐛𝓃𝐨𝚟𝑒𝗹.c𝗼𝚖

"Hnn.." Simon made a nasal noise and nodded his head. Of course, he knew who the princess was, they had travelled with each other at that time. Although at that time he was unaware of her other identity.

"So what does the princess want? Don't tell me she sent you all here to capture me for what happened back then in the capital?" Simon stepped forward, arched his head and locked gazes with the guard captain.

The moment his words fell, a faint sense of danger pervaded the air causing all the hair on Burg and the rest to stand on end. Forget about the time when he was lower level but still stronger than them. It needn't even be mentioned how big the gap between them was now that his level was on the brink of reaching the level 500 barrier.

Just his erupting emotions were enough to cower them to submission. Although her body shook a little, Alvara forcefully suppressed it and continued to glance at Simon with an undeterred face. Her personality was stubborn, she would never reveal any fear in front of her opponent.

"The Princess won't do something like that. And looking at you now, I don't think we have enough manpower here to capture you" She retorted back.

The bodies of those behind her trembled, their faces seemed to be saying that they wanted to run away from here immediately.

"If it's not to capture me, then may I ask for what reason the guard captain has visited my abode?" Simon laughed withdrawing his aura.

"We are here to notify you of something on behalf of the princess and a message from her" Alvara spoke, she took out a letter from her space ring and passed it to Simon.

Simon took the letter and saw the seal of Serene Palace Merchant guild on it. This told him that this letter was not from the princes but from the mistress of the merchant company that he had travelled with back then.

Simon opened the letter in front of the curious eyes of everyone and after a while, his expression froze.

Immediately afterwards, the atmosphere of the room changed, the air visibly took a faint crimson colour and a pressure that cracked the ground descended onto the floor. Nobody knew what went wrong after the demon read the letter, but they all took out their weapons and stared at him cautiously.

Given the dreadful killing intent he was releasing, it was a subconscious action of theirs.

"Master are you alright?" a maid appeared behind the demon at some unknown point. She was beautiful, her beauty was on par with Alvara and she possessed a unique thoughtful and intellectual temperament.

Annette had appeared behind Simon surprising everyone as they failed to notice her presence.

The trembling of his hand that was holding the letter, stopped at this moment. He tore his eyes away from the letter and shifted it towards Alvara almost in a glare and demanded.

"Are the things written in this letter true?".

This time, even Alvara wasn't able to remain unperturbed, given the rich killing intent that was involuntarily surging at her, the natural reaction of her body was to tremble in fear.

Simon at this moment had forgotten to keep his aura and his killing intent in check, they wildly surged out of his body like a tsunami and quickly filled the chamber.

After massacring thousands of ogres in the Blackfield, Simon's body carried a natural rich killing intent. It was so dense that if any person below level 200 came in contact with it, they might have a seizure and immediately faint.

Alvara nodded her head with some difficulty, at this moment she found her body locked in place and struggle breathing.

"Lord Simon… if I may interject" while Simon was lost in his thoughts, a voice sounded out in the hall breaking the silence.

"You are…" Simon who was called out looked at the person and furrowed his brows. This person in assassin attire looked familiar, where did he see him before?

"You are that assassin who had given me the map back then" after thinking for a while, it finally dawned on Simon who this man was.

This man was the very same person who appeared before him when he was running wildly from the pursuit of the sea god's trident guild after losing the protection of Adalinda.

If not for the man providing the map and stalling the enemy's line-up, he might have wandered into the Vulkan fortress where the sea god's trident had set up their camp and was waiting for him.

"Haha… the name is Brett. It seems like lord Simon remembers me. It might be asking too much but if you don't mind can you please retract your aura, the newbies are about to faint".

The assassin pointed at the group behind him who looked so frail and terrified that they would pass out any moment if this continued.

It was only now that he realised that he had lost control of his emotions. He hurriedly retracted his aura and suppressed his vast killing intent.

Haa… only when there was no longer that pressure that grasped hold of their hearts, did these few fellows exhale a breath of relief. The next moment though, they looked at the demon with even more dread.

Alvara too hurriedly composed herself after she was free of that killing intent holding her in place.

"Master are you alright?" Annette repeated herself, her face was masked with worry when she saw him losing himself in anger at that moment.

Simon didn't say much, he passed her the letter and focused his gaze back on the guard captain.

"If the contents of the letter are true, then it possesses a great risk. What I don't understand is why would you reveal it to me instead of keeping it a secret and allow it to happen?".

Simon asked, his eyes were observing the two carefully, detecting the minute movement they made to determine if there was any deception involved. If there was, he was resolved to kill them instantly.

After what had happened last time, one cannot blame him for being callous. He had forsaken the human side of him and had accepted that there cannot be any reconciliation between them.

"Sigh… it's because the princess believes that no good would befall us by antagonising you. She said that the kingdom of Ellesmere can only prosper if they reconcile with you. It might be hard for you to believe, but she wants to apologise to you for what happened back then in the capital".

"She knows that you were wrongly framed and pursued thereafter. She wants you to know that she was deeply upset when unable to keep the promise that she made with you. The contents of that letter are her way of showing her goodwill" Alvara stated in a soft voice.

"Goodwill?... Kfufu… Hahaha," Simon chuckled, his giggle turned into a loud burst of laughter.

"In one side you seek a compromise while on the other side you are trying to antagonise me. Aren't your words contrasting a little too much Guard Captain? If you want to deceive me, at least get your facts straight".

Alvara spoke of reconciliation but the contents suggested otherwise. Simon didn't know if he should laugh or get mad.

"Lord Simon… I know that it won't be easy to change your view of us. Hence we do not think that we can come to an understanding now. We only want you to know that princess Cynthia is doing everything in her power to maintain this relationship".

"You must understand that she is after all just a princess of the kingdom and does not have the authority to prevent that. Thus she could only inform you through this method. She hopes that this information would be of some help to you" Brett interjected.

In the backlines however, the fellows who were intently listening to their conversation, were going crazy after finding that the demon noble who had wreaked havoc in the capital was none other than the one in front of them.

This revelation cemented their fear even more. Unknowingly, they had entered a very dangerous place in search of this person.

On the other hand, they found it astounding and strange that the princess of their kingdom had a relationship with a demon noble.

Everything that is being discussed right now, was a secret that nobody other than them in the kingdom was privy to. If the words of today's event were to be spread even they did not know what kind of storm it would brew.