Paradox: Distorted Reality

Chapter 13: Astra's plan

I walked around the city, I was looking for Astra in order to get her help with something. She had agreed to start helping us personally if we beat Layla. Although it's technically I didn't kill her, so I guess she might not like that.

I walked around a plaza which had many stores surrounding it. The place was quite crowded and people would come and go. But through the crowd, I spotted a hooded figure, which signaled me to follow. They headed down an alleyway, and I followed behind. When we got out of sight, she took off her hood, and it was Astra just like I thought. I saw her horns and realized something, I hadn't seen many demon on the way here.

Aside from the forest demon in the Grove, I hadn't seen any demons in the capital nor here in Auroropolis. Likely because Layla was there in the capital, they doubted the need of demons which made sense. But here in Auroropolis, I hadn't seen any either, what could probably cause this? I should probably mention this to Astra, just then she said "Well in a way, you technically betrayed me but I guess what you did wasn't necessary bad." She was inferring instead of killing Layla, I had brought her right here with me. But she doesn't seem too disappointed, she continues "I guess convincing her to become an ally is a good thing, but it was quite reckless. So from here on out, I'll make all the calls you got that?"

Even though I know she's smart, she still lacks certain things in order to truly lead a group. So it'll be best for me to continue leading the group, but how can I convince her? Maybe I could mention how I defeated that forest demon. No, she probably won't be impressed with that alone. What about telling her about the assassins sent every two weeks or so? Nah, that might make her suspicious about me. Maybe I could just go along with what she says now but not actually listen to her plan when it comes around.

"Okay, but are you sure that you'll be able to lead like a true leader?" Maybe she'll feel less compelled to lead with what I just said. It'll probably not work, but it's worth a shot.

"I'm not trying to brag, but I am leading a secret rebellion against the demon king. I don't think leading a party of strong heroes to victory would be harder than that." The way she said that means she hasn't ever led a party. Well, now I know if I listen to her, I'll probably die within a couple of minutes. Also, she doesn't know my ability yet, but if I recall, most demons can sense that I don't have any magical abilities. But Astra isn't very good with magic herself, so I wouldn't worry about knowing that now.

But I should probably tell her at some point, but right now I don't think it'll be a good time. So I'll just ask her about the low number of demons, "Quick question, I've been noticing that there's been a low number of demons around the capital of the Frostbite Alliance and here in this city. Do you have an idea about why this occurred?"

Astra proudly smiled, likely because she knew something I didn't, and said, "I can see why you would ask someone as smart and knowledgeable as me. Well, the reason behind this is that a majority of demons are trying to protect Meira and Sirius from getting kidnapped. Few people know this, but those two have extremely powerful magic, and people often like to use these individuals to power mana stones. They then sell these mana stones to large companies working in electricity to earn a profit. Since Meira and Sirius have much larger amounts of mana than most B-rank mages, their mana supply is so large that they could power a couple of homes for a day or two, and almost a crate full of mana stones."

So that explains quite a bit; I bet the demon king wants to use them to fuel more mana stones as well. So that's why he's protecting them with demons, but why does he need that many mana stones? I wonder if he is trying to use the paradox crystal again? Although he used it, I'm not sure he remembers that he used it to change reality. The demon king is obsessed with power, so he might be trying to use the crystal to make himself into a god. If I recall, Aisling said he needed to wait a while for the crystal to regain power, but is it powered by mana? If so, would the mana stones work?