Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

  ———————————————————————————


  "I think we're about halfway done……but there's still a hell of a lot more left," I sighed dramatically.

  "I don't get why you're complaining so much, we're making some pretty fast progress here, you know," Responded Kuro with a raised eyebrow.

  "Easy for you to say……do you have any idea how easily I get bored?" I groaned in reply.

  "I mean, you sat around doing nothing but observing stuff for literal centuries, so I figured that you must be pretty good at staving off boredom," He remarked with a raised eyebrow.

  "That was then, this is now, I'm a changed person! Just because I'm not starting wars right now doesn't mean that I'm willing to do tedious, boring work, you know," I huffed with a pout.

  "Man, you're really immature for someone who's more than fifteen centuries old, aren't you? It only took us an hour to get this far, and if we're halfway done, then it's just another hour to completion, no big deal," He pointed out objectively.

  Today's the 28th of May, and a few days ago, Kuro had proposed turning the toxic wasteland area in a liveable land, by using Divine Magic spells to nullify the toxicity. The soil in this area was reasonably fertile, the only reason why nothing could be grown in it was because of the air.

  But now that we were detoxifying the air, it should be pretty easy to grow stuff here. And that's all well and good, but the problem is that Kuro and I are the only people capable of casting Divine Magic spells right now. Which means that we were the only ones who could do this, no one else could even if they wanted to.

  "Goddammit, this is so exhausting! And yeah, it doesn't take much Divine Magic at all, but still! Casting Divine Magic spells is a much more complex procedure than casting regular spells, even a simple Divine spell is a pain to cast!" I complained loudly.

  "Just deal with it, complaining about it isn't going to end this any sooner, you know. It's not like we can just……huh, actually, an idea just occurred to me, one that might help us finish faster……," Began Kuro as his eyes lit up.

  "Yeah!? What is it!?" I exclaimed immediately.

  "……tone down the enthusiasm, why dontcha? Anyway, I was thinking, we could use Clone Magic to increase our numbers and."

  "Fuck, yeah! Why the hell didn't I think of that sooner?!" I grinned eagerly, before forming twelve clones and sending them out in various directions, "Awesome, now I don't have to do any more work! Ahh, what a relief!"

  "Yeah, it should only take a couple of minutes or so now," Nodded Kuro in response, as he formed twelve clones and sent them out too, "I'm a bit surprised that I didn't think of this till now either."

  "Alright, I'm sure you can handle the rest, I'm going back to the Rustlands now!" I declared, as I opened up a portal.

  "Yeah, fine, you can go back. All I really need to do is make sure that we didn't miss any spots, should be easy enough with my clones," He responded with a shrug, before I went through the portal and emerged in my room in the Rustlands' castle.

  "Home sweet fucking home, baby!" I sighed contentedly, as I flopped onto my bed and rolled around.

  Hehe, and now, let's spy on some people! Let's see here……looks like Shiro and Minise are just training together, boring. Doesn't look like anyone else in the Rustlands is doing anything particularly interesting either.

  Too bad I can't spy on anyone from Abyss, considering how diverse their population is, I bet there's always interesting shit happening there. There's no point in spying on anyone from Idyll, they're all so……boring there.

  The same goes for Liberty too, though I guess to a much lesser extent. They interact a lot with the independent trade centers and Abyss, so they're not as boring as their fellow kinsmen from Idyll. They're still pretty boring to watch though, not really worth spying on.

  Maybe I'll have another try at finding those bandits that appeared recently and then abruptly disappeared again……I'm still pretty intrigued by how they've been able to avoid my Observation Magic, and even staying out of sight from Kuro's invisible monsters scattered throughout the land.

  Kuro did manage to find one of their hideouts, but they'd already cleared out of there, and that hideout had remained unoccupied since then. Gotta say, I'm pretty intrigued. I wonder where exactly these bandits are hiding……?

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Luell Rouge

  ———————————————————————————


  Is it just me, or is the cuisine in the world getting better and better, and also getting more and more similar to food from my old world? Well, I'm certainly not complaining, this shit is freaking delicious!

  I was currently at one of the independent trade centers, near the volcanic mountain range where Bronztan used to be. I'd infiltrated this place a few days ago, and already, I felt like I was starting to settle in here.

  I mean, these places had only recently been set up, but they've advanced so quickly, the inn I was staying at was super comfortable! I was also working as an apprentice in one of the stalls, one that sold clothing and jewelry, in order to deflect any suspicion.

  I was blending into my surroundings, until I become a natural part of it……at least, that's what I told everyone whom I was leading, because I was getting sick of hiding out in caves and stuff. I had everyone else slowly but surely infiltrate the other trade centers one by one.

  It was actually pretty easy, sneak in at night, head for an inn and act like you've just arrived from the Rustlands or Abyss or wherever, rent a room, get a job the next morning, and before you know it, you're a part of it.

  I had kept in contact with everyone by using a spell that links us all up telepathically, along with a spell that prevents Observation Magic from being used on us. Unfortunately, the result of casting those spells used up the last bit of Divine Magic that I'd stolen from the Rustlands' protective barriers.

  Trying to get more is too risky, if they've figured out that Divine Magic was stolen from the barriers, it'd be a relatively simple matter to add command lines to the barrier formula that'd alert the caster to any further Divine Magic extraction attempts.

  Belia Lasmodeus, Shiro Blanc and Kuro Black are the only ones that currently possess Divine Magic at their disposals, and they're all frighteningly powerful, so stealing from them directly is nothing short of suicidal.

  Unfortunately, most of my followers seemed convinced that I had some grand scheme up my sleeve or something, and they seem confident that I can bring about the downfalls of those monsters……yeah, no, that isn't happening.

  I mean, let's be real, I'm just some guy! I guess I could say that I'm kinda smart, and good with spells, but beyond that, I'm just a regular-ass person! I'm not even an Adventurer, I've never fought anyone or whatever, I've been nothing more than a civilian in the recent wars!

  But now, no matter what I do, no matter how trivial, the people who follow me read way too much into every little action I take. Like how I just wanted to live comfortably and that's why I infiltrated this center, but they interpreted it as part of my elaborate 'plan' to do something big.

  Aw, man, this has gotten way, way out of hand, just how in the hell am I supposed to dig myself out of this hole that I dug myself into, huh? Because my followers think that I dug myself into this hole deliberately, and therefore, are now digging me even further and deeper into it, and it's way, way past the point where I can even consider stopping them.

  Like, what am I supposed to say? 'Sorry everyone, but everything we've done so far is as a result of all of you misunderstanding my intentions through every step of the way'? Yeah, no, they'll probably kill me if I say something like that.

  So, instead, the last thing I told them was to 'lay low and blend in, while waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. It may take a long time, but be patient and bide your time.'……yeah, I know, that's vague as hell, but hey, they bought it. Well, all I can hope for now is that such an 'opportunity' never comes around……

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

  Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

  https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP