Supreme Monarch

To be honest, becoming the first vassal family of his Darknar family was not necessarily a good thing as using the former demon king's name was still considered a taboo accross the demon continent. So any family that decided to attach themselves to that name may be branded an outcast.

The chances of other families attacking them to get to at Tyler were very high and failing to protect one's vassals would be a blight at his qualities to use the Darknar name.

Such a thing was enough to turn the entire continent against him. However, it didn't seem like the Hervia family cared about such a thing as Anox hadn't even hesitated in utilizing his authority as the Hervia family's representative to immediately become Tyler's vassal family the moment he laid eyes on him.

Naturally, this had made Tyler a little bit curious as he hadn't expected such a sudden turn of events given how the other representatives had acted.

Taking a look at the prostrating aged man, Tyler decided to satisfy his curiosity as he asked: 𝘧𝓇𝒆𝗲𝓌𝙚𝙗𝓷o𝘷𝒆𝘭.𝐜𝚘𝒎

"Tell me, what made you decide I was worthy of becoming your family's head? Do you not fear the consequences of making such a vital decision for the Hervia family's future so lightly."

His sudden question caused the aged man to raise his head as he silently glanced at Tyler before returning back to his prostrating state as he answered Tyler's question.

"There was nothing light about my decision today your Grace. I value the Hervia family's name above all things and I will not take such a risk on a whim."

"Is that so." Tyler said in an almost silent mutter but eveyone in the room has still clearly heard him. He found Anox answer a little vague an as though he had sense his thoughts, Anox proceeded to elucidate his thoughts at the time.

"Indeed your Grace. I, Anox Jirx Hervia have chosen to exercise my rights as a representative and an elder of the Hervia family not out of desperation, but simply because, to me, your Grace exudes the qualifications of a true king."

'Say what!'

Tyler stared directly at Anox in confusion but the dude didn't budge in his statement which meant he was actually serious. He had no idea what the hell could make this man think that way, especially when so many other representatives had not.

As though Anox could hear his inner thoughts once again, he answered Tyler without changing his serious yet gentle expression.

"When I walked into your office, your Grace, and from the moment I laid my eyes on your esteemed visage, I felt every fiber of my body and soul tremble in excitement. Even though I am not keen on the details, my instincts have never once failed me. It is why I was chosen as the representative for the Hervia family."

"Fascinating. So, what did your instincts tell you about me?"

The more Anox spoke, the curious Tyler became as he eagerly awaited the answer he was hoping for.

"What I felt from you my lord, was an excitement that told me the person I'm looking at will be the one to influence the direction of the demon continent. Also, there is no one alive that is capable of hiding their presence from me even if they were the world's greatest assassin."

The moment he spoke out the word assassin, the air in the room suddenly felt still as though the gravity around them had been increased a thousand fold. Anox froze for a moment as he noticed the deathly glare being directed at him from the person that sat beside Tyler and he immediately adjusted his posture.

Managing to retain his composure, he quickly corrected his phrase.

"What I mean is, my innate ability is named, 'Peerless Perception'. It grants me perfect awareness of my surroundings even from ghosts and specters. So even though I may not be able to sense divine auras, I'm confident in my ability to sense the presence of the gods themselves."

"So that's it. That is quite the interesting ability."

Tyler understood what Anox was talking about. With his ring of Nullity, none can even sense his existence much less his aura, so for someone like him who prided himself on his extraordinary perception. Such a thing was unthinkable.

His ability was able to bypass the stealth skills of a demigod assassin even though he was not a demigod himself. So naturally, it would be able to bypass the restrictions of magic items and artifacts.

However, God tier artifacts were a different story, and not even the Great Five would have more than a handful of them yet Tyler possesses a vast array of them.

The reason why Tyler decided to equip the ring of Nullity on himself instead of giving it to a scout or assassin like Z or Rain— who may be able to make better use of it furring their missions— was because he didn't want to attract any attention to himself either from his foes or his subordinates.

He didn't want his presence or aura to constantly intimidate those around him as simply restraining his aura would not be enough to completely defend agaist those prying gaze.

Still, the artifacts alone were not the only reason why Anox had made such a quick decision after laying eyes on him.

"Yes your Grace. However, my ability was not the only reason why I made my decision. It was your eyes."

"—My eyes?"

A look of confusion was plastered all over Tyler's face as he pondered on what Anox meant by that. Was there something wrong with his eyes, or was hazel an unnatural color in the demon continent.

"Indeed, when I had looked into your eyes I didn't find the same arrogance I had expected from a young behemoth of your caliber. Someone who was able to take the Darknar region from under the nose of the Great Five. What I saw was a confidence that was not baseless, a pride that was not bloated. Accompanied by the benevolence of a great leader. These were all the qualities o believe the demon king should have and not what he had."

"So that's it."

Tyler finally understood how Anox had come to his decision while the other representatives had not. It was because he wasn't trying to look for the qualities of the old demon king inside of Tyler to begin with.

Rather, he was looking for the qualities he believed a true demon king needed. It was already clear to all that Tyler had the strength to rival the Great Five demon Lords and could no longer be considered a simple behemoth, or even a primordial.

However, what these representatives were after were the qualities of the demon king of Destruction. So naturally, with Tyler lacking the same senseless ruthless eyes of the demon king, they had deemed him unworthy.

'Unworthy Huh? Now that I think about it. I haven't had any emotional outbursts since Uriel became a part of my soul. Does that mean I'm freed of that guy's remnant physique? Well, whatever.'

Tyler didn't think much of the representative who had deemed him unworthy. His only goal in this meeting was to gain allies and unlike his subordinates, he wasn't trying to take over the world.

With a swoosh, Tyler stood up from his seat unprompted and appeared right before Anox in an instant. Placing a hand on the man's shoulder, he smiled and spoke.

"I appreciate your honesty Anox, and for that, I shall greatly reward the Hervia family.", 'Of course, I don't yet know what that reward will be.'

"I am honored, your Grace."

"Good, then you may leave. I will have someone escort you back to the Kanton region to finalize the terms of the Hervia family becoming my vassals."

"Thank you my Grace."

A smile blossomed on Anox's wrinkled face as he bowed to Tyler before taking his leave. He was not the last representative seeking an audience with him as there were still about four more to go.

Watching Cora escort Anox out and then bring in the next representative, Tyler returned to his seat and continued his meetings with a increased pace.

He quickly went through all four representatives and unsurprisingly, none of them had sworn loyalty to him as Anox had done. In the end, he had only ended up with one vassal family and open trade talks with six other families.

These were from the families that still believed he was allied with one of the Great five and were trying to take advantage of the situation to gain a portion of the once forbidden resources of the Darbar region.

These families may even be worse than the ones who had deemed Tyler unworthy as they were actively trying to take advantage of them. Still, this was a golfer opportunity that could not be missed as the Darknar family could not trive on the resource of the Darknar region and the Kanton region alone.

They needed to play along with these families untill they were able to outwit them into a more favorable trade agreement. This was why none of the proposed trade so far had not been finalized.

Hence, Tyler needed to send his own representative to visit this families heads to continue the negotiations.

That presented another problem as Tyler didn't know who to send as his representative. He could send Tarka, alongside the dark drake, Drago with Anox to finalize the details of the Hervia family's submission to him.

However, talks with the other six families were on another level as they did not respect or at least fear Tyler's authority so he could not send someone weak. He also needed someone intelligent enough to handle the negotiations and not get swindled into signing a disadvantageous trade deal.

As there was the matter of establishing a trade route between the regions. It would be bad if all the cost of the trade was placed on them.

Liz and Z were the perfect candidates for such a task, however, there was no way Tyler could afford to pull those two away from their duties and even Albert and Erin were currently vital to the continued progress of the Darknar family.

The only other viable option was—

"Lord Ty is something the matter. You've been standing there for a while now. What's wrong?"

"—Uh, oh right my bad. I was contemplating the best candidate to lead the negotiations with those six families. There aren't that many capable candidates."

Hearing Rain asked worriedly, Tyler finally snapped out of his daze and strolled back to his seat.

"Oh, if such a thing bothers you so much then I wouldn't mind going myself."

"Huh."

Hearing Rain's words, Tyler's went wide as he immediately turned to stare at her in an exaggerated motion.

"Wait, why're looking at me like I can't handle a simple negotiation. I'll have you know, I was trained as an assassin by one of the Great Five and my training included all forms of education. After all, one does not just become the world's greatest assassin just by moving in the shadows. Hehe~"

'And who the hell gave you that title.'

All kidding aside, Tyler was completely blindsided as he hadn't even considered Rain for the job at all even though he knew she was far more intelligent than he was without Uriel.

'I suppose that's her own fault, to begin with.'

Tyler completely shifted the blame for his negligence back to Rain as the considered her proposal. It wasn't exactly a bad idea but still, there was a lot to consider as Rain's presence was currently also needed in his city.

"Is there still a problem with sending me out Lord Ty? Do you not trust me with this?"

Tyler remained silent for a second before gently muttering in response.

"That's not the case… However, your presence here is very important, so if I send you out… I would be quite troubled…"

"My," Rain smiled in delight. "It will be fine, Lord Ty. I shall immediately settle matters and return to your side."

"Is that so... Very well then."