Chapter 87 Interlude 3-1 – The ‘Five’

Unknown Island.

Divider Ocean.

December 5th

Year 1051

*TAP! TAP! TAP!

Footsteps rang out as a purple haired man walked down a passageway, through two lines of dozens of servants bowing their heads.

At the end of the passageway, was a set of double doors held open by two men dressed in butler uniforms.

He walked through them and stood still with, raising his gaze to scan room beyond the doors.

A chestnut rug ran in a circle around the room, with one path at the main entrance he just walked in from, while guidon banners with burnished tapestries decorated the walls.

Between each banner hung a lantern, many of them haven been lit and in turn illuminating the sculptures of war heroes below them.

Slim braziers encircling each of the fourteen marble columns lit up the entire room and engulfed the room in a brilliant glimmer.

The marble stone of the bowed ceiling danced in the flickering light while stone effigies looked down upon the rug covered grey wood floor of this marvellous room.

It had huge, washed glass windows that were bordered by curtains, coloured the same chestnut as the banners. The curtains had been adorned with gold leaves and intricate embroidery.

A sublime table of gold sat atop an elevated platform and was surrounded by five equally lavish seats.

The seats were covered in nothing but labyrinthine etchings and fixed on the backside was a lavish sun. The comfortable pillows were a dark chestnut and these too had been adorned with embellished tufts.

"Extravagant."

His voice echoed across the quiet room as he walked towards the only empty seat and sat down before crossing his legs.

He then pulled out a rubber band and used it to tie his long purple hair into a ponytail before gazing at the other beings seated at the table with his golden eyes.

From his right, was a stunningly beautiful woman with large bust size dressed in what appeared to be a negligee with a bathrobe loosely draped over it. From her long legs, one could tell she was fairly tall.

She had silky, long black hair and red reptilian golden eyes with vertical slit pupils. She yawned without covering her mouth, indirectly saying she'd rather be sleeping than be seated in that room.

Beside her was a fair-skinned Long haired man with beautiful blonde hair and green eyes. He was dressed in floor-length purple and white robes, a white crown with feather decorations, and purple flats.

Next was a large muscular man with an unruly mane of deep brown hair. He had similarly coloured eyes with a metal headband with horsetail crests framing his face. The two lion ears atop his head and his fairly long tail that was wrapped around the chair legs showed his identity as a beastman.

Lastly, was a short man with tanned skin and a strong muscular physique contrary to his height. He had a long red beard that was tied in multiple sections which he stroked as a habit.

His outfit appeared to be an ordinary pair of trousers and black boots with a casual T-shirt atop his upper body.

On his waist, was some sort of utility belt, with multiple miniaturized tools strapped across it. One of such tools is a Warhammer which appeared to be a small mallet at first glance.

"You're late as always, Rathal."

"Says the one who looks like they'd rather be asleep."

The purple haired man, 'Strongest Human' Rathal replied to the words of the golden eyed woman beside him with a snort.

She only chuckled in response before yawning once more and adjusting her horrible sitting posture. Her gaze turned serious as she placed a hand on the table and spoke.

"I'm sure you all are already aware of the incident that took place about a month ago. Where a 'grey skinned, winged-humanoid' attacked a human town in the Alpha continent and killed hundreds of people.

He was then taken down by a combination of some human knights, and adventurers. However, it was said that most of the work was done by a young adventurer of no more than fourteen years old, along with his older female companion.

Reports from the knights say he was the one who dealt the final blow to this 'grey skinned, winged-humanoid'."

Hearing her words, Rathal revealed an amused grin while rubbing his palms together.

'A kid that beat one of those guys? He'd definitely be one of the 'Seven'.'

The fair skinned long eared man, 'Elven Emperor' Zaos, had a pensive look on his face. After a few moments, he voiced out a question.

"Can we get more details on the incident?"

"You should ask Kolvar and Rathal, they're the ones on the Alpha continent."

The woman yawned once more after replying. She then turned her gaze to the lion beastman, 'Beast King' Kolvar.

"There's not much more to know besides what she has already said. I don't like beating around the bush so I'd get to the point.

A 'demon' somehow got in through the rift and attacked a town of humans, and that demon was put down by a human noble, one that was rumoured to have 'run away' from home some months ago."

"This kid, is there anything odd about him we need to take notice of?"

The short tanned man stroked his red beard as threw a question at Kolvar. He was the 'Smith Master' and reigning monarch of the dwarf Kingdom Stonehammer, Vulwin.

"Yes. It was something that was quite hard to miss.

He was said to possess some sort of crest in his eyes. Though the exact details of the crest's description haven't been given, we all know who he could possibly be."

Kolvar calmly responded to Vulwin's question without even looking at him, his attention was on the scene of the golden-eyed woman opposite him extracting a ball of light from Rathal's head.

"This woman...! Stop extracting my memories without permission!"

"It saves me the stress of asking you, plus I get to see if you messed around while you were away. Two birds with one stone."

She waved him off as her eyes glowed lightly. The ball of light in her arms disappeared and the memories she extracted were downloaded into her mind.

"I see.

If my guess is right, then the kid who defeated the demon on the Alpha continent, is one of the new generation 'Seven Heroes'."

The woman then slapped Rathal's back before continuing.

"This idiot over here, also found one of them in the Desert country. The 'Third' of the 'Seven'."

A look of shock flashed across Zaos' face as he rose his finger and pointed it at Rathal before speaking with a shaky voice.

"T-this wa-aste of s-space, h-he did s-someting useful?"

"Oy! What the hell?!"

Hearing the question Zaos asked, Rathal couldn't help but retort with a bit of anger. The golden eyed woman, 'Dragon Lord' Altrishia burst into laughter, earning a glare from the human man beside her.

"When on Aidos are the lot of you ever going to act your age?"

Kolvar's voice tinged with a bit of annoyance killed the jovial mood instantly causing Altrishia to pout in dissatisfaction.

"Geez. You're so stuck up."

However, her facial expression changed into one of seriousness a moment later as she narrowed her eyes and continued.

"But I understand your concerns. The fact that a demon was able to get into Aidos means one of two things.

Either the dimensional rift is re-opening and the demons would come pouring in faster than predicted.

Or one of those insufferable bastards did something."

The 'insufferable bastards' she spoke of were the same group of people a certain reincarnated hero referred to as nuisances, the 'Demonic Hand'.

Vulwin frowned upon hearing Altrishia's words, not just him but Zaos and Kolvar too. Having lived for hundreds of years, the three of them had clashed with the demonic hand on numerous occasions.

"Tsk...their leader is the only reason we haven't crushed them yet.

He clicked his tongue and spoke with gritted teeth.

The reason why even the 'Five', the most powerful beings on Aidos had been unable to completely crush the demonic hand for the past few hundred years was because of the existence that was at the top of the organization.

"We've killed off the 'Fingers' of the 'Demonic Hand' time and time again but as far as the 'First Finger' remains, they always come back.

They're even more tenacious than cockroaches."

The leader of the 'Demonic Hand', was someone that although he did not possess power on par with that of the 'Five', possessed a skill set that let him escape their clutches every time he was cornered.

"Let's forget about that rat and talk about more important things.

Two of the 'Seven', have been discovered, we should move to secure them before the 'Demonic Hand' can find out.

I reckon the reason the demon attacked that town was also to take out the new generation hero who was in it."