Supreme Monarch

"An invitation? Potential candidates? Are you by chance mocking me, vampire king, Ferlis?"

"..."

After reading the information about this so-called summit of the Greats that had just been presented to him. The air surrounding Tyler finally changed as his eyes narrowed in response to the female vampire mage's loud statement.

The fact that his vassals were referring to the supposed Great Demon lord as the Vampire king instead of lord hadn't really surprised Tyler in the least as he had received more information about the working of the Morningstar family so he simply focused on the subject matter at hand.

Sensing his sudden hostility and hearing his response to Silver's explanation had rendered Ferlis speechless for a moment before ultimately recovering his senses. That reaction was far beyond his expectations so the sudden change in the air had taken him by surprise.

However, Silver's expression did not change as she calmly replied to Tyler's words with her usual tone of voice.

"My Lord means you no disrespect, your Grace. As the Great Five families have already borne witness to your family's public display of strength, combined with your acquisition of the Demon king's castle, there is no other candidate more worthy to become one of the Greats."

Although Ferlis had planned to step in if by chance the Demon Lord had taken his request the wrong way. He wasn't surprised to see Silver unfazed by so many stifling aura.

The fact was, he didn't care much for formalities but that didn't mean he was insensitive to the worlds perception of the nobles.

Hence, allowing Silver to present his invitation was tradition and he was interested to see how this family responds to it hence Ferlis choose to leave everything to Silver for now.

Silver, who still had her head lowered in a polite bow, slowly raised it to face the seat of honor at the end of the hall and continued speaking. However, he eyes could not meet that of the Darknar Demon Lord and she was forced back into her polite bow.

"Recently, there have been several high-ranking families that have been rapidly expanding their influence across the continent over the last few centuries and are now close to rivaling the Great Five in both military might and resources, even if none of them could stand on the same level as the Great Five Demon lords as you, have."

While Silver's face remained emotionless the entire time. One could tell that she had struggled to voiced that last word. Admitting a random behemoth could rival the likes of her master who even the other Greats could not touch was a tough pill to swallow.

However, this eas her master's will and even though it was born of a capricious and fickle thoughts, she had no choice but to obey him.

"Still, with these families rapid growth and increasing public opinion. There is a possibility of them forming an alliance and starting another revolution on the same level as the seven primordials. However, the seven primordials were still just a few individuals that could not amass a large army to fight on a unified front. So, if a conflict between nobles of these ranks were to arise, it would spark another continental scale civil war that the other continents may take advantage of to destroy and enslave us."

Gentle murmurs arouse wittin the crowd as looks of understanding was plastered on their faces, having acutely understood where there girl was going. Still, this did nothing to dampen their hostile gaze towards them.

"Hence why talks of inaugurating a new Great Family had begun. In an effort to quiet down the other nobles that believe the Five's influence has been dwindling in the last few decades. This would also serve to strengthen the authority of the Greats ones these Demon Lords that have only just stepped foot into the realms of the divine are reminded of what it truly means to be a Great Demon Lord."

At this point eveyone had completely understood what this was about and they all had varying reactions to her words. However, a single grave from Albert made the room quite down in an instant and Silver continued.

"This is why invitations have been extended to all qualified families to attend this century's summit of the Greats as the guests of each of the Great Five. However, I'm sure there is no Great Family out there that's foolish enough to believe any of those families is capable of rivaling yours, your Grace."

Silver finally raised her head for the second time in an attempt to meet Tyler's gaze once more. Perhaps proving to herself that he was not at the same level as her master.

However, her eyes could not meet his as her head was forced back down and she could only stare at the marbled floor beneath his feet.

"So you're asking Lord Ty to accept to be used by the Great Five in order to strengthen their authority over the continent? Are you confusing us for your lackeys!?"

The icy cold voice of Liz cut through the tension in the air as it pierced directly at Silver who was unable to immediately answer that question.

The hall fell eerily silent for a moment as everyone stared coldly at the trio standing proudly at the center of the room. Completely disregarding the presence of the dozen or so armored knights that had announced their entrance earlier.

Given as the three vampires hadn't responded to Liz's questions caused the crowd to grow inpatient yet again, causing murmurs to arise amongst them.

"Answer the damn!— uwah!"

A clear, bell-like voice rang forth, followed by the sound of something moving swiftly. The dark elf girl frowned slightly, while Liz, standing beside her ignored her looks of discomfort and focused her attention on Silver.

Although Ferlis wasn't paying attention at the time, his dynamic vision was leagues above what was considered the norm and thus, it was good enough to see what had happened. It would seem the blonde girl had just kicked the Dark Elf girl in the leg.

"…Hey, you―"

"―You're making too much noise. Quiet down."

With a gesture befitting a demon king, Tyler majestically waved his left hand to motion for silence as his pupils flashed with a red glow for a moment before returning to normal and the pressure on Silver immediately disappeared.

Those regal movements seem to come naturally to him even though he was supposed to only have been doing this for less than two months now. It felt like he had the aura of one who had been through countless decades of rulership.

Ferlis's expression change once more as a faint smile graced his beautiful features.

'I see... how interesting. I assumed he was just a behemoth who had attained the strength and ability to make things interesting for me. But, perhaps there's more to him than even I can predict. Magnificent.'

Ferlis decided to observe Tyler's subordinates with more interest than he had originally intended to from now on. He then disregarded all distracting thoughts and spoke in place of Silver, who was still finding it difficult to answer Liz question in a possitive light.

"My goals are to foster a good relationship with whoever shall rule the Darknar region. I generally do not have an interest in the other noble families and I do not share the Great Five's interest in the Darknar castle. That should be obvious to someone like you by now, I believe your capability to gather information should be on par with even the greats so you know I have never once Exercised my right to break the castle's barrier in over 500 years."

Ferlis received a silent nod from Tyler before continuing. His last statement had been the absolute truth. As the Great Five took turns in their almost public attempts to bypass or destroy the 5 layer barrier surrounding the Darknar castle to claim the hidden treasure within, the Morningstar family has always forfeited their turn after their very first attempt had failed more than 800 years ago.

As their family consisted of vampires instead of demons, they had operated on a different system than the rest of the continent, even in the time of the Great Demon King.

It was as though they considered their region a kingdom of its own with Vampire Lords being equivalent to Demon Elders and inaugurated their Demon Lord as the Vampire King.

With that and them having very minimal interaction with the other regions due to the difference in their societal structure. They did not share the other Great Families' interest in becoming the Demon king as long as they would maintain their current way of life.

In a way, one could consider them the easiest member of the Great five that a family like the Darknar family could ally with. However, as they were also more detached from the things of the continent than the others, they were also the most difficult family to get along with.

"With that said, I hope you'll believe me when I say this. It is in our best interest that a civil war doesn't repeat itself on this continent as the world is currently in a fragile state of peace at the moment. And any sudden spark may lead to a repeat of the last Great War. Only this time, I believe the Elves would be participating."

"The Elves— uwah!"

A sound of discomfort once again came from the mouth of the beautiful Dark Elf standing beside the demon lord and why Ferlis found himself a little curious about what this elf opinion on the elven continent was, he hesitantly chose not to pay attention to it as he needed to be a little more serious in the presence of another demon lord.

"While I do not know your ultimate goal in attaining this region despite the presence of the Greats. I do not particularly care. However, it will be hard for a single family to survive on the resources of their region alone. Especially if the Great Five was allowed to meet and somehow come to an agreement to ostracized said family."

What the vampire king was saying was something that could be easily understood. The only reason none of the Great Five had made any drastic moves the moment they found out about the Darknar family was because of the looming possibility that another Great was behind them.

However, that could all change the moment they were allowed the meet each other in the Summit of the Greats. For all they knew, they would have the entire continent coming after them.

And while, dealing with a war was not impossible giving the strength displayed in the undead war. Such a thing would have the opposite effect in the peaceful live that the demon lord had claimed to be his aim.

"I believe the best way forward for your family is to attend the Summit of the Great in two months and help the Greats regain their authority within the continent. Of course, this will benefit my family as well."

The smile on Ferlis face did not change as he made his calme and bold explanation while expressing his own transparencies.