Conqueror

"Goodmorning." Greta woke me up in the morning.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up, "So... it's time isn't it?" 

"...Yeah."

The two of us got ready and wore our clothes and headed straight to the conference room. Everyone was already seated in their own seats. After the fight a week ago... Zieglind seemed... More intimidating as usual. I just ignored it and sat down. The tension in the air was rising.

Zieglind was the first to speak. "First of all, I have to apologize since we'll be taking this hunt for new allies. And this quest will take us a long time." Everyone nodded not saying anything. "Secondly, I'd like to give Afal some recognition. He completely wiped out the entire Serpent union." Everyone clapped in awe of Afal. Even I, was surprised. I didn't know his firepower managed to destroy everything with the Xend materials active. "But that's not all. He also got some messages from Ouroboros himself. I haven't seen them myself since I want to share it with all of you. Afal has read it himself and confirmed that this is indeed Ouroboros' messages to the Serpent union." Zieglind then opened up the first paper he has in hand and put it in front of him. "Imagery Intensify, Telepathy!" We all saw the message inside of our heads.

Lily, the progress you're making is disappointing me.

I didn't know that you were this incompetent. It has been weeks since the last report.

Where is Agezi? That old fool still hasn't given me the title of the Demon King.

Move fast Lily. I'm getting bored.

The letter then had the sign of a dragon on the side... Eating its own tail? I looked at Zieglind and his face turned pale for some reason. He then shouts, "LAGRIMA! COME OUT!" 

The former Demon King then came out of Zieglind's body. "...Hmm." 

"What's the meaning of this?" Zieglind held up the letter of Ouroboros right in front of Lagrima. "Why is the same symbol of Ouroboros the one tattoed on your chest!?"

Lagrima let out a sigh and began to explain, "It's a mark that he gave me. Believe it or not, I was defeated. But he didn't want to kill me yet. He wanted the title of the Demon King so he let me live. I told him to give me some preparations so I came to the surface. To find a successor. And at the same time, that's where I found you. So I was forced to give you the title whether you liked it or not."

Zieglind's face turned to normal as he calms down. "I see. I'll hold your words believable." Lagrima then hovered behind him to read the rest of the messages. "Imagery Intensify, Telepathy!"

I've found someone. I don't know if he's an ally or an enemy.

Villagers from around the world are calling him, 'The Hero.'

His feats as a new player is amazing.

If you find him, try to recruit him on our side. 

Avoid battling him for now since you won't win without the Naga Queen.

But if it does lead up to that, bring him to me to comply with his demands.

A human with the people's support will bring great cause to us.

"He's talking about the hero that we met last time when we fought the Lich and the outcasts of the Tartarus right?" I asked Zieglind.

"Yeah." He replied. "These are the only two messages that Afal managed to recover. These already revealed most of his plans to us and we already destroyed two of them. The founding of the Serpent union and him getting the Demon King's title. In which I'm pretty sure he's going to use the demons down there in hell." Everyone was silent as Zieglind finished what he wanted to say. "I know this is going to be a long time being apart. So I'm hoping that everyone will grow in this journey. That's all." Zieglind stood up, "That's all." And brought out his sword, "Come, Demon Sword Acabar!" Zieglind looked back at us, "See you later. Rift Open." He then swung his sword as if slicing the space. It opened up a portal to hell. We're at least meters away from Zieglind but we could feel the intense heat there at hell.

Precia, Rize and Yefa wanted to say something but couldn't. They just sat there and looked at Zieglind as he jumped inside the portal. Completely disappearing.

Afal stood up, "I wish you luck everybody. I'll protect the lord in whatever way I can." Afal followed in the portal which then closed a few seconds later.

Everyone was silent as they left. I couldn't bear to see this so I was the first to speak. "I wish everyone goodluck. Greta, let's go." We headed to Lam first to get a chest full of Marestone. We put it in our inventory and headed our way.

The moment that we got near the shores of the ocean, we switches our gears into the armor that Ruz and Ruf forged for us. It apparently makes swimming easier. And with the bonus buff of increased vision underwater. We can also breathe in it even without the Marestone. We just grabbed it from Lam in case of emergencies.

We jumped into the ocean and begin to head our way into the place that Zieglind told me about. While we were swimming, we found sharks and fishes were surrounding us. So I used Universal Language to converse with them. "Stop. I come here bearing message from the Naga Queen."

A merfolk then came out of nowhere. A human top and a fish like bottom part of their bodies. They then began to converse with me. "The Naga Queen? If you're able to converse with her then that means that you know of her language?"

"Yes." Even though Universal Language automatically calibrates the language that I speak and hear, I can still set it to manual. I changed my language into the language that the Naga Queen was talking. "I'm the Naga Queen's messenger. I have to tell everyone at your village about the message that I came bearing." 

The fishes then dispersed from me and the mermaid began to speak. "I see. I apologize for offending the prophet. Let's go. I'll lead you to our village.

Prophet..? I'm no prophet but that should be fine. 

"Hey Zeta..." Greta then spoke while we were following the mermaid.

She's speaking in the normal language so I'm sure that these merfolk doesn't understand us. "Yeah?"

"Is it just me or Zieglind has been different lately?"

"Yeah... He's more hot headed right now. Especially when he saw the Ouroboros' mark."

"And he's a bit intimidating now too... Those two will have a difficult time approaching him now."

"Those two?"

"No. Nothing." Greta had a wry smile on her face. "Hey Zeta..."

"Hmm? What?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while and... Do you think that it's better for us to just... tap out?"

I didn't understand what she meant by that. "What do you mean?"

"I just want to live somewhere far away, have kids while we work normal jobs."

"Huh..?" I never expected her to say this to me.

"I'm just feeling tired of all these things. We risk our lives everyday. We fight beings that are far stronger than us now and then. I'm just exhausted... I just want to feel normal again. Like that little girl you saw in that illusion of mine Zeta. I want that normalcy in our lives. I want to be with you until we grow old and live our lives like a normal couple."

"Ah- eh-." I didn't know what to say. So she's searching for that normalcy in her life. I can understand it though. She has gone through a lot.

"Is it wrong?" Greta looked at me with her eyes filled with sorrow and a sad smile on her face. "Is it wrong for me to wish that after all the things that I've gone through?"

I held her hand as we swam through the ocean. "No, no. It's definitely fine. And I don't blame you for it. But..."

"Yeah... I know." We both have the same thing in mind. "We still have to repay Zieglind for all the things that he's done for us. Giving us another shot at life..."

"Him saving you from the curse..."

"And for letting me meet you and falling in love with you. After all this is over... Let's do the things I wished for?"

"Sure. Let's."

"We're here." The mermaid then spoke. It was a sight to see. The giant kingdom underwater. It was wider than Izgoy. I couldn't help but be amazed by this kingdom. I'm just wondering how people hasn't found this underground kingdom yet when it's incredibly huge and well lit even underwater.

I looked at Greta and we both nodded at each other. We then swam into the kingdom of the merfolk.