The Demon King: The Seven Virtues Of Xenvalon (Volume 5)

Act V: The Siege Of Galapor!

★·.·'¯'·.·★ 1 ★·.·'¯'·.·★

"Agh?! A siege?" boomed Alastor as he skimmed each document before moving onto the next. "The Cross plans to seize Galapor? Tha-that's where most of Xenvalon's food income grows! If those bastards launched a full-scale assault and actually succeeded in taking the city--?"

"We'd devastate them." Ray hissed aggressively. "I can say with absolute assurance that the Church of Light would never allow such scum to hold Xenvalon territory. The church combined with Xenvalon's army would annihilate whatever amount of soldiers they'd have hold up in that city. Storming won't be a difficulty, not in the slightest."

"You forget the citizens." Dice stated. "If these documents are indeed real, then, the best thing the Cross can do to prevent a siege is to hold the entire city hostage or threaten to burn down crop fields. Harvesting season is right around the corner and Xenvalon will need all the food we can to last the winter. If they burn down those fields, they would be able to divide and starve the country without having to exit the city wall."

"Like you said, Dice. But, how exactly can we confirm that these are indeed the authentic? And if they are, just how did you get ahold of them, Miss Lazarus?" Reiya asked.

I had spread the documents given to me by Overseer Oz around the table, allowing each and every one of them to have a glance at the intel. Now, all those sitting at the table glanced in my direction, awaiting some sort of response explaining how I had obtained such precious information. I could see the suspicion in Ray's gaze, to which I responded with a glare of my own.

I knew who that man was. Not only was he one of the most elite light priests within the Church of Light's cathedral here in Xenvalon, but he was also the man who accompanied those demigods that Tatsuo and I encountered in the dungeon. He was the one with the oddly designed scythe, the same scythe that he used to attack and cut Tatsuo...

He was more foe than friend, to me.

I refused to disclose the truth, not in front of the royals and especially not in front of Grandmaster Elderos' most trusted subordinate. That would've been the height of stupidity and exposing Tatsuo to his enemies would be the equivalent of spitting in his face. He was more of an ally to me than the Church of Light, I held no doubt.

I grabbed a piece of parchment of the table, as well as quill that I dipped in ink. Those seated at the table watched me jot down a few things onto the parchment before I folded up the paper and slid it to Arkhelm, who was quick to unfold it and discover the truth.

He pushed his glasses close to his eyes before reading over what I had written down. Everyone else was growing impatient and were becoming irritated that they were being left in the dark, which only raised Ray's suspicion of my means of gathering such intel.

"... The information is genuine." Arkhelm confirmed. "Lazarus paid off members of the Devil's Cross to extract this information for us. Her contacts are known intel leakers, some names here even I recognize. Different intel leakers were hired, all tasked with the same assignment of infiltration without knowing that others had been hired with the same task. All the information given to Lazarus from them is the exact same, all of them mentioned the siege of Galapor. So, the authenticity of the documents cannot truly be confirmed, but I think our best course of action is to assume the worst."

TATSUO GAVE ME THIS INTEL... PLEASE LIE FOR ME, I'M BEGGING YOU, was what was really written on the parchment I handed him.

Just as I had desperately requested, Arkhelm lied on my behalf to keep Tatsuo's involvement and existence an absolute unknown. I was eternally grateful to my wonderful guildleader and the endless stream of kindness and compassion that flowed within his soul.