Akira stood on a small flatbed boat that was transporting several of his officers, royal guards, and sister Teresa along with her four personal guards.
The rest of the low-level demigods were being watched over at the south fort in a new campsite next to the grarr dens. It was far enough away from both the inner and outer city which was still being worked on. The first two outer rings of walls and buildings had already been completed allowing for the Kodria citizens who were without homes to camp inside the walls now providing them farm more protection than their campsites. There was still a lot of work to do to complete the inner walls and the basic buildings that would allow the new outer city to thrive when completed.
“Are you sure this list is accurate?” asked Akira pointing to a hastily written list that had several dozens of names scrawled on it with a few notes on who they were and what their skills were.
“That is everyone who attacked you as well as all their skills that I saw when they were fighting alongside my loyal friends. If you would like more information on the situation in the main guilds and who to watch out for you will have to give me and my remaining followers some guarantees,” said Sister Teresa who was as calm as ever.
The list in Akira’s hands held important information and would be used to update Kodria’s list of known demigods and the types of skills they could use in a fight. The information that they gathered was available to all their allies to help them understand and be more aware of the enemies fighting ability so they could at least have a chance in making plans to fight against them. The lists also acted as a kill-on-sight target list for those with the ability to do so.
Along with the list of names he had learned much more information about demigods in general while talking with sister Teresa casually. Most of the information was unverifiable but what he could verify was still groundbreaking in his understanding of the demon race’s main enemy.
Roundie and the others were not as calm as sister Teresa since they were surrounded on all sides by warriors from the demon race. Sister Teresa paid their nervousness no attention as she watched several other large flatbed boats float by. These boats were filled with several rows of thick stone blocks in stacks taller than an average human.
Duuum! Duuum!
Slow and steady drum beats were heard from each of the boats as those in control of the boats followed the rhythm to slowly and gently row the boat forward since any major uncoordinated movement would cause water to flood into the boat that was just barely staying above water with such a heavy load of stone blocks.
As the flatbed reached the main stone docks of Kodria’s inner island there were already several hundreds of civilians gathered to gawk at the demigods that the rumors had said would be arriving in Kodria.
It was an entirely different feeling for many of Kodria’s residents for the first time seeing demigods that were not here to kill them. Many of those gathered had scowls as they looked at sister Teresa and her guards with distrust due to the hardships that the demon races had to endure throughout several generations, all caused by the demigods.
Along with the growing crowd of civilians was a large force of city guards that had come to escort them back to the castle.
It would not do Kodria any good in negotiations with sister Teresa if she and her followers were attacked even before the negotiations had started.
“Akira! Welcome back!” said Frang happily hugging Akira. He was the commanding officer put in charge of the city guards that would be escorting them to the castle.
Some of the royal guards were unhappy with such informal talk and actions but held back their disapproval.
“You’re still doing well I see,” said Akira as he looked at the several dozen well-trained city guards who quickly took up positions around sister Teresa and her followers.
“Same to you. We can catch up later but right now the grand elders are waiting anxiously for your return. They have been acting weird for a while but now I can see why. The rumors were really true,” said Frang.
“Right, lead the way. We can’t let them go crazy from waiting,” said Akira.
***
Akira spent the next hour and a half bringing them up to date on the current situation that the entire continent including both the humans and the demon races faced. He explained everything that happened to him while he had been away in greater detail than he could with the short coded letters and transmissions that had been sent between the shamen.
Although his report was filled with important news the grand elders and the other chiefs of the demon races that made up the population of Kodria seemed impatient for him to finish.
“We will keep all this information in our memory as we deal with the enemy forces. But… the main reason we asked you to join us in this discussion is not about all of that,” said grand elder Àaron who was the most agitated.
“I understand. You want to know why there is a small group of demigods waiting outside this meeting room, am I right?” asked Akira.
“Yes, what is all this about? I am shocked that you out of everyone here would be the first to not only bring such people here but also suggest that we trust them and have them become our allies,” said grand elder Hegir. The grand elders and chiefs all had an intense hate for the demigods just like anyone else.
“Grand elders, fellow leaders of the other demon races, you all know of the ancient heritage I carry within my body.”
“Yes, everyone is well aware of it. What does that have to do with the demigods?”
“During the last battle with the BenDover guild, I was able to awaken a deep and dormant ancient skill that had been lost for centuries. It is only because of this skill that I dared to even think of such a thing. Even with this special skill, I only decided upon it after testing them and weeding out the many that were not fit to be an ally to the demon races. Those that passed the initial test are here at Kodria waiting for your decision.”
The elderly men that were sitting inside the room all sat up straight upon hearing this. Boasting about such a thing was not something they would take lightly when the entire future development of Kodria, its people, and its army rested on this decision.
“How can we be sure that they won’t stab us in the back when we are in a compromised position that could cause our downfall or a major defeat in a battle?”
“With this recently awakened skill, I am almost 100% sure that they will become loyal subordinates under me. Even if they had ulterior motives it will all be in vain, once the skill takes effect.”
There were several gasps at this revelation.
“Why are you not 100% sure?”
“Nothing in life is ever 100% guaranteed. Although I doubt it would happen, something could go wrong. I would guess that 99% of the demigods are not compatible with our cause. But that one percent we should grasp and bring them onto our side to help battle the other demigods. With their help, we can have them take on the more dangerous missions that would mean certain death for our normal soldiers. With the help of these demigods, we will be able to save hundreds if not thousands of soldiers from certain death allowing them to be able to participate in other major battles to protect Kodria. With their help, we will also be able to have demigods that can enter the demigod’s circles of communications to gather information.”
“With such a skill why do we not just form a hunting team to capture demigods and have you use your skill on them?”
“Although I have not used the skill yet from what my instincts tell me, that wouldn’t work. from what I understand the target has to accept the changes from the skill. It will change their entire being. Plus I am unable to use the skill on a whim because there are requirements and restrictions.”
“And those are?”
“The main restriction is my own strength. I am unsure how many times I can use the skill. As It is not some small-time skill. The second thing is in order to activate the skill there needs to be a full moon.”
“There will be a full moon soon…”
“That is why I rushed back as fast as I could so we could get this all settled. I hope that you will thoroughly investigate the demigods that have come here and accept my proposal before the full moon arrives.”
“This is such a major event, we must talk this out before seeing them first! There is too much to discuss! If we are to test out your new ancient skill…”
“I will let you all handle the rest of this. If you need my input on anything or any other information I can provide, you know where to find me,” said Akira before standing up and leaving the meeting room that was now bursting with heated discussion between the grand elders and chiefs.
Since Kodria had become a dukedom the grand-elders had taken on more responsibility. The chiefs had also been promoted into positions where they could help take care of more tasks to lighten the grand elder’s workload.
It was all growing into something similar to high ministers and the low misters of the human kingdoms. Although it was not as cutthroat as their system and still followed the earth clan’s system of Grand elders and clan chiefs.
