Sigmund is busy

A month had passed since my first encounter with Loki.

There had been little progress with his plans to kill Balder or even smuggling the heavenly arrow into Asgard. We had met a few more times but last time Loki told me he'd be making a trip to Jotunheim and wouldn't be back for a while.

Sven had also had multiple breakthroughs, making him a bonafide peak viscount magus. His body was like a furnace and devoured tons of wind apples to fuel his rapid pace of growth. With his wyrm bloodline and the help of enough energy, he was quickly soaring past the bottlenecks of every level.

Nerida wasn't faring so well, having only reached the intermediate viscountess maga real she was lagging behind due to her bloodline holding her back.

Völsung too found it hard to advance any further. He had already lost his youthful vigor and breaking through to peak grand duke fighter would be nigh impossible. Instead of wasting his efforts on that insane bottleneck, I had him learn magic. Admittedly, his talent wasn't great but with the help of countless fire apples, he successfully reached the early knight magus realm.

If only I had a mythical beast's bloodline to give him, his potential would soar.

As for the orphans, they had all reached the knight magus realm and successfully received the wyrms bloodline. Sadly none of them had mutated like Sven. Additionally, all of them had made an equal's contract with a shadow horse.

I had also recruited some adventurers, ranging from the magus level to the baron magus level. They all made an equal's contract with one of the various beasts I could grow.

I had finally built a combat force that wasn't made up of only beasts. I still had the beasts, they made up a large part of my forces but their ability to think was a critical drawback. Only alpha beasts with years of practical experience could do such a thing. The alphas I grew might be physically bigger than normal beasts but experience-wise, they were essentially newborns.

The humans might be few in number but they could make autonomous decisions and think about their next moves.

I had been preparing throughout the past month for an enraged Sigmund to charge over here and attempt to chop me in half. However, when I now spied a troop under the royal banner approaching, I couldn't feel his presence amongst them. Could he have hidden? No, a man like Sigmund would never hide, he would only advance or retreat without hiding anything.

The convoy didn't attack the town but continued through and reached my base. They had not met any resistance so far, all my forces had been pulled back and secretly sent to seal off the perimeter.

Sigurd was leading the convoy, followed closely by Siegfried and Signy. All three of them were now intermediate marquess magi.

The last time I had seen them both royal descendants had only been count magi. For them to break through repeatedly in such a short amount of time! A mythical beast's bloodline really was something else!

"Tree! I believe you owe us an explanation for what happened to the muspel clan!"

'Well, first of all, I have a name, you know. Second of all, don't you humans think this is getting repetitive? How many times have we had this kind of conversation? Also, where's Sigmund?'

Sigurd's face contorted with rage. He

"Stop dodging the question! and I'm here as his representative, asking you why you backstabbed us!"

'Backstabbed? I don't know what you are talking about. If that is all, I'll be waiting for Sigmund to take some time to meet me personally.'

"I am the prince of the sky kingdom. There is no need for my father to come here, talk to me. Answer my question!"

'As you said, you are only a prince. You are not qualified to talk to me as an equal. Do you really think Sigmund would be throwing a tantrum like you?'

Admittedly, I was provoking Sigurd. Sigmund sending over a representative instead of coming himself was meant to send a clear message to me. A message I would be sending right back by refusing to talk to his representative.

Knowing Sigurd's temper and the fire dragon's soul pouring sweet poison in his ear, this would no doubt end bloody.

"You think I am not qualified? I will show you just how qualified I am!"

With a roar of pure, unadulterated rage Sigurd's body shifted as he used beast mode. Fully utilizing the power of his bloodline, his transformed state raised his power to the very peak of the duke magus realm, touching slightly upon the beginning of the grand duke realm.

Evidently, he had lost control over his emotions and given in to the dragon within. Forgetting about his powerful magic, he charged relying on his transformed body.

'Are you aware that your actions represent all humans? If you proceed now, no one can save you!'

Sigurd didn't seem too concerned with my words. His eyes were red as his speed increased once again. Behind him, a sole call rang out, filled with worry for her brother and the tree that had helped her once.

"Don't do it, brother!"

But nothing could stop the enraged Sigurd as he was about to reach me.

Then with a snap, his body stiffened and fell like a broken kite who's string was cut. Sigurd was dead! I had detonated the little present placed in his body long ago.

I wasn't in the habit of creating hidden threats for the future. Thus, back when I took a look at the royal descendants, I had planted a seed of extremely concentrated lightning magic inside each of them. This seed would continuously absorb magic in their body and kill them with just a simple thought from my side.

Sigurd hadn't stood a chance.