Chapter 435: Pointless Meeting
"Like I said, the world is in danger," Albert repeated his words in a serious tone.
"And like I said, tell me something I don"t know. I know about the cult from the start, and I knew about the world in danger ever since Javier told us about it. And everyone has already known about it. You should explain yourself why you"re saying it twice," I said.
Javier has told us that the world is being destroyed by the cult. First, it was our world. The one that I died protecting. Next was Monsters World. Because of Monsters World getting destroyed, Javier used his power to return me to the past and made sure I can communicate with Victoria right away.
Normally, I need to reach intermediate level first to be able to communicate with Victoria. But Javier, and the other consciousnesses in the Black Slime, including Victoria herself, used the power to make Victoria able to talk with me, and also to get Javier meet me once I reached intermediate level.
That was why I am not interested in this talk if it"s just about the world is in danger. I know about it from the start. I don"t know what happened after I died, but Javier has told me what will happen after I died.
"Well, let me explain. From the previous battle, when we"re up against the vampires, I realized that of us knew the danger we are facing. Most of them think that everything will be fine. Especially since we have Roy and several expert level mages. That"s why I knew that we lack in our sense of urgency," Albert said.
"I see. That is true. I didn"t sense it at all until the vampires started drinking other vampires" blood. Once the vampires have grown stronger, and we are losing, only then that our people started to think about the fight seriously. If Angela didn"t come out sooner, some of us might have died," old man Harold explained.
"Old man is right. Thanks to Roy, we are more prepared and stronger as well. That"s why most of us feel normal even if enemies are attacking. In fact, we are fine because we know that other people, like Roy or any expert level mages, will help us. We truly lack the sense of urgency," Albert said.
Really? A sense of urgency? I always know that the world is going to be destroyed though. Must be other people.
"Well, isn"t it fine as long as they fight? Or don"t tell me that you never give them motivation to fight?" I asked Albert and the other kings.
"…"
Wait, no one answering? They just told the people that we"re going to fight, but never gave them any motivation.
"Well, other than the kingdom and the world is in danger, I have never given my people any other kind of motivation," old man Henry said.
"Me too. I thought it was enough to have an army of people whom I can trust. But they just follow my order, and no more than that," Albert said.
"As for me, I don"t even know whom I can trust other than Celestine and Claudia. The people I brought with me are loyal. But to the empire, and not to me. Which is great, but that mean they are unlikely to put their lives on the line in a battle like before against the vampires to protect someone they don"t even know. They treated it as a simulation battle and not a real battle," Lynn said.
Well, that"s their problem. There"s nothing I can do about that.
As the three finished talking, all of us then look at the last king who hasn"t speak a word.
"What are you looking at? I"m not even a king anymore. Someone took my place. Trusting just one person is already good enough," Harold said.
Well, that"s the king who is not a king anymore.
"So, what you all need are motivation, right? Figure it out yourself. I don"t know what you expect from me about this thing," I said.
"Well, I started thinking about this after the fight. When I saw that there are more powerful monsters than the vampires, I realized that the cult might have something even more powerful than them if they could destroy this world," Albert said.
"That should be obvious, no? And the reason I tried to destroy the cult as soon as possible is so that they won"t gain enough power to do that yet. Kill them before they grow stronger, or creating more invention that will help them do so," I said.
"Victoria, and Sonia as well. Can you tell me something? If Roy fight against powerful Aura user during the time you were both humans, can he win?" Albert asked Victoria and Sonia.
"Yes. Unlike most Aura users, Roy used tricks as well in his fight. So, can he win? Of course," Victoria said, in which Sonia nodded in agreement.
"I mean if Roy won"t use any kind of tricks. Will he be able to win with his current strength?"
"No."
"Definitely no."
Victoria and Sonia said.
Well, I also don"t expect that with my power, I could defeat powerful Aura user of the past.
"If the story is right, the Evil G.o.d thinks that Aura users can stop him. Even with Roy who has defeated an artificial master level mage, he is still weak compared to Aura users of the past. Doesn"t it mean the enemy is much stronger than we thought?" Albert said.
"…the enemy has always been stronger than us. That"s obvious. What are you trying to say? That there"s a level of magic beyond master?" I said.
Beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, and master. Those are the five level of magic that we always know.
Expert level can be considered as the strongest since there hasn"t been any record of a master level in history, and master level was considered as a legend which is impossible to achieve. But what if there"s another level beyond that? And someone in the cult, probably the one called the Evil G.o.d, is that person.
Hearing that, everyone was stunned. They thought that master level was already too strong. No one would have guessed that there is other level beyond master. But it"s not something that we know about.
"So, Angela, what do you think about it?"
Seeing everyone is still stunned, I asked Angela. Instead of fear, what she"s feeling is hope.
"Doesn"t it mean that I can grow much stronger again?" Angela said casually.
"Isn"t that right? From the time I told you and Kayla about the past, I have only asked you to do one thing. Grow stronger. If the enemy is a master level mage, then we just need to grow stronger than that. Motivation? I don"t know about that. But I know that there are many among us who wants to be the strongest. Albert, old man, Lynn, and Harold. All of you might be the leader of your country. You can lead people, but you don"t know their desire. Just the previous tournament is already proof enough that many people wish to be the strongest. And the next tournament, between four countries, there will be more people who wants to be called as the strongest. All of you have underestimated people"s desire," I said.
Doing it to protect themselves, to be the strongest, to protect other people, for fame, for wealth, for the reward given to them, there are many easy ways to motivate people. Sense of urgency? All hunters know that every mission they took, might be their last one. The guards? They must know that if they can"t protect anything, they shouldn"t be a guard.
Sense of urgency might be important, but being in a hurry won"t give much progress. Each people have their own pace. One can slide down from a hill without stopping, but others need to walk with the help of a cane to progress. If those with cane sliding down the hills, once they stop, they won"t be able to stand up.
"…so, this discussion is pointless. Roy is right. We can"t ask everyone to save the world. They will fight, but for different reason. There"s nothing we can do even if we are the kings," old man Henry said.
"If the enemy is strong, we need to be stronger? That"s sound simple. But there"s really nothing else we can do," Albert said.
"See? Now that the meeting is over, there"s other dishes that I haven"t tasted yet. Right now, my motivation is to eat every single dish at least once. Now, if you"ll excuse me. I have food to eat," I said as I was about to leave.
"Ah, Roy! Wait!" Albert called.
"What is it?"
"I also want to eat. Especially the chocolate cake that you hide. Bring it back to the table," Albert said.
"How did you know!?"
"I have been aiming at it from the start. Of course I know when it"s missing from the feast," Albert said.
I thought Kayla told him about it.
"Then, I want something in exchange," I said.
"No. Cake, or there won"t be any more feast for you in the future," Albert threatened me.
"…I hate you."
"Nothing you can do about it."
With no choice, I grabbed the cake from my room and put it on the table with other dishes. The smell of the chocolate even raises the appet.i.te of the werewolves who loves meat.
At least I need to get the biggest slice.