Chapter 185 - Offerings To Mauri

A Dwarf guard wearing the newly designed alliance armor with the emblem of a Elven Great Shield standing front and center with the Dwarven warhammer crossing on front of it diagonally, with the handle starting from the bottom left corner of the shield, and ending with the head at the top right corner of the shield and then the human's favorite defensive weapon, a long sword, with the handle starting from bottom

right corner of the shield and ending with the point of the blade on the left top corner of the shield, comes up to me and says.

"lady Jill, I regret tp inform you but your younger cousin has been chosen by Mauri."

confused on what the hell he was talking about, I ask.

"what do you mean Mauri? didn't we deal a huge blow to that Cult?"

he shakes his head.

"things are much worse than we anticipated."

I ask.

"what do you mean?"

he gives me a worried expression and replies.

"Mauri has returned and she made a deal with the alliance to allow her to operate without any disturbances."

"what the hell, Mauri and her cult eat other people, just like they did to my friends, why would the alliance make a deal with her?"

he answers.

"look all I know is that she was threatening all out war with the alliance using the Orc army, and so we made a deal."

I shake my head in disappointment.

"how could Collin stand for this?"

he replies.

"he didn't, he voiced his disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e about the whole treaty and called everyone in the alliance a coward and just stormed off without saying a word."

I smile.

"at least I'm not alone in this."

"do you know where he went?"

he shakes his head.

"unfortunately no."

I ask myself.

"where could he have gone?"

I sigh and then get back on the topic of my younger cousin getting chosen by Mauri.

"thanks for telling me, now I'm going to go get him back, before she gets a chance to eat him."

he puts his arm in front of me to block my way and says.

"I'm sorry, Miss Jill but I can't allow you to break our treaty with Mauri, I was tasked to inform you of the situation and was given permission to stop you if you choose to retaliate."

"okay I get it."

he sighs.

"good I'm glad you understand."

I then punch him straight in the face, knocking him out cold, and say.

"like hell, I would let Mauri have my cousin."

I look at my scr.a.p.ed knuckles and think to myself.

"don't worry, Daniel I'm not letting anything happen to you."

I then run towards my Aunt May's house, hoping that I can get there, before Daniel gets taken away."

I arrive in no time, but something feels wrong, my Aunt is sitting on the ground wailing hysterically.

"they took my child!"

I click my tongue.

"damn it I was too late."

I run up to her and ask with urgency.

"where did they go? I'll go get him back"

my Aunt May clings to me and cries.

"why did they take him? he did nothing wrong, he is a good boy."

I reply trying to comfort her.

"I know, that is why I need you to tell me which way they went so that I can chase them down."

she shakes her head?

"I didn't see where they went, one of them used sleeping magic on me."

I growl.

"I'm going to make them pay for this."

as she lets go of me, I say to her.

"I'll be back."

I then think to myself.

"I should go to the palace and demand some answers from King Dave."

I run through the crowds of people who seem to be heading in the same direction as me, I then ask myself.

"what's going on? why does it look like everyone is goin to the palace?"

quickly making my way to the palace, I approach the entrance, only to find myself blocked by the many people gathering around a stage that has been set up in the entrance, I tap a random male elf on the shoulder and ask.

"excuse me, what's going on here?"

the elf turns around and asks.

"have you not seen the announcement that has been posted in the news bulletin boards around the city?"

I shake my head.

"no."

he replies.

"King Dave is making an important announcement, that us going to impact the kingdoms in the alliance."

I gasp and ask myself.

"could it be that he is going to reveal the deal that was made with Mauri?'

I reply.

"thank you."

as the crowd grows larger with each passing minute, I anxiously play around with my hair, thinking to myself.

"damn it, I can't stand around doing nothing, I need to find my cousin and take him back with my Aunt May."

I then start pushing my way through the crowd until, everyone begins to cheer as King Dave steps on to the stage, accompanied by some guards, Ying and a boyish looking woman with short hair that I don't recognize, I then ask myself.

"who is she?"

King Dave raises his hand to silence the crowd and then begins to speak.

"as you all may be aware, I'm going to make an important announcement that will drastically change the lives of every citizen that currently live in the kingdom that are in the alliance."

he pauses for a moment and then continues.

"right about now, the other Kings or Queens are making a very similar announcement."

I hear someone whisper to someone else in the crowd.

"what could it be?"

they whisper back.

"I don't know, hopefully they aren't raising our taxes."

King Dave continues to speak in a somber tone.

"I don't take any p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of what I say next."

he pauses again and takes a moment to look at everyone in the crowd before proceeding.

"Mauri has returned."

many people in the crowd gasp, while someone next to me says to another.

"it's fine, we have the great hero Ying Zhu, he will take care of that psycho."

King Dave then points at the boyish looking woman and says.

"fron now on, we have deal with Mauri and she will let you all know the terms we have agreed on."

the crowd goes silent, I then think to myself.

"if she is standing there next to Ying, does that that mean she defeated him?"

the crowd grows weary, and I hear someone next to me ask.

"does that mean she beat Ying, since he us not doing anything to her?"

another one asks.

"will this psycho actually honor whatever agreement they came up with?"

Mauri then stars to speak.

"I know that all of you are wondering, on how I came back, after being gone for about five hundred years or so, but you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

she smirks as she catches all of our attention and continues.

"well the reason that I have returned after all these years, was because recently I have learned about a terrible enemy that threatens this world and he calls himself the Demon King."

at this point the crowd is listening attentively.

"and so because of this threat, I made an agreement with alliance so that I can grow strong enough to confront the Demon King and that is where some of you come in."

she snaps her finger and five people are drag on to the stage, cuffed, and one of them is my younger cousin, who looks like he has been crying, I then shout.

"Daniel!"

Mauri looks at me and points at me.

"quiet please."

after that I couldn't say anything and she just continues.

"some of you across the many kingdoms, will be chosen, so that your powers will increase mine until I'm strong enough to defeat the Demon King."

I hear the person next to me say.

"I should have known the psycho would have conditions like this."

another one says.

"well not much we can do, if Ying was unable to defeat her."

Mauri then waves goodbye and says.

"now enjoy the rest of you day, and continue on living your normal life."

she looks at me once again, but only this time she prevents me from moving and speaks to me in my mind.

"now you will stay there like a good girl and do nothing because your cousin will make a nice contribution to a good cause."

I reply.

"don't you dare eat him."

she giggles.

"bye."

the crowd disperses, while I helplessly watch Mauri disappear with all five of them, and after they are completely gone, I collapse to the ground and cry.

"this is hopeless, how are we going to stop Mauri?"