With the departure of the crimson witch and all loose ends in Eclanor taken care of, the following morning, upon Raven’s return, everyone went back ho. For most of them, it was ti to rest; however, for the hero’s party itself, there was one last thing that they needed to take care of.
The ruling for the demon servants–their presence was required for testimony in front of the king, the dukes, and the duchesses. Then and only then could an inford decision be made. Standing in front of the court and retelling the stories of the war, Raven did his due to the courthouse, but the sheltered dukes seed a bit skeptical about the matter.
Tall tales by a maddened warmongerer—that’s what they assud his story to be. Besides, their minds were already made, and there was no changing them. Not unless Milo had to say anything about it.
Joining his party in a row of seats beside the dukes and duchesses, the hero sat as an equal; as much as the nobles tried to forget it, he was deed a duke by Milo just like them. In fact, while they sat on their asses using this ruling as entertainnt, Alia and Ophelia were already back to work and trying to work out a deal with a handful of farrs from Raven’s territory to move to Eclanor and help establish crop fields.
"Was this really necessary? This pretense?" Sitting beside Raven, Adith kept looking around at the arrogant nobles. "Why do they need to be here? All they ever do is sit on their asses and exploit whatever’s possible."
Taking a deep breath, Raven leaned into his chair and looked around as well.
"Just be glad that Milo’s keeping them in check," he responded, his eyes slowly turning back to the shackled devil woman and her sister trapped in the floating glass case.
Milo and the nobles have been considering their fate for quite a while, and with his testimony done, it would soon be ti for them to cast down a verdict on the won’s lives. Ideally, it would be death so they could never cause any more problems, but since the nobles didn’t seem to be aligned on that idea, slavery could very much co back to Athenia.
’Then there’s Markus.’ Standing in the shadow of Milo’s tall throne, Markus’s eyes never left the two girls. Half spirit, half man himself, he could be the perfect overseer for the girls; however, the decision in the end would be shared between Milo and the council seat holders. ’Either way, our job here is done. Now it’s entirely on Milo to persuade the rest of the council.’
"By the way," leaning towards him from over her armrest, licia tapped on Raven’s shoulder to get his attention. "What’s the plan for us? Where are we going next?"
In whispers, they were conversing while the rest of the hall deliberated over the fate of the demon servants. Aria and Erika were just as curious about their next move, but since their seats were opposite to that of Raven’s, they couldn’t ask questions of their own.
"Monty’s going to scout what lies beyond Eclanor. I might send that owl-girl, Lumine, with him, too. She lost her group last ti she was out scouting, but we can’t have our spies seated for too long, especially since we lost a majority of them."
"Didn’t she lose one of her wings?" l inquired further.
"Mono should be done with her wing by now, and don’t worry, Elowen has decided to help with the scouting, too. Although in return, he wants a part of our army to protect his city and also let him keep the fabled rifle with him."
"A tall order if you ask ."
"What is he supposed to do? Eclanor has no army of its own." Interrupting their conversation, Adith turned to l with a sharp glance. "Of course, we should protect them until at least lenai figures sothing out in terms of security or what have you."
"Geezz, calm down. What crawled up your rear?" l shot back, frowning.
Shaking his head, however, Adith regained his composure.
"Nothing, I’m a bit tense because of this stupid theater." Looking once more to the front, he brought everyone’s attention back to the ruling.
The ti for deliberation was over, and finally, a verdict reached Milo’s hand in the form of a formal vote that included the opinions of the nobles. So wished to have the demon servants turned into their personal slaves; others deed them fit to set a precedent for what happens when soone goes against the interests of the kingdom. But alas, every one of the greedy bootlickers had their own interest in mind. And so, ignoring them while keeping up the facade of a republic.
"As is stated here, and is the majority amongst the decision makers..." Casting his gaze down at the demon servants, Milo rose from his seat. For a mont, his eyes turned in the hero’s direction; however, with Raven already having voiced his opinion about the girl, the young king no longer had to ask. "These girls will beco servants of Sir Markus, trained as royal guards with not a slave but a soul brand to keep them from defecting to a higher bidder!"
"WHAT?!"
"WHO VOTED FOR SUCH AN ASININE DECISION?!"
"THIS IS WHY NOT EVERYONE SHOULD BE GRANTED A TITLE!!"
Discontent amongst the nobles was loud, but Milo continued to take things further.
"Markus, I hope you can look after them. I will leave the soul branding to you as well." A brand etched on the very soul, few were capable of such a feat, but as half spirit, half man, it ca to Markus as naturally as breathing.
"As you wish, my lord." Bowing to Milo, the dark knight led the demon servants out of the main hall to start working on the soul brand.
Taking a seat again once the knight was gone, Milo sat quietly for a mont before breaking the unrest that settled inside the hall.
"You’re all free to leave now. A bright future awaits us, but only if we keep making inford decisions, together..." And with that, the saga following the war in Eclanor finally ca to an end.
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