"Oh." Savrena squinted her eyes at Benimaru, getting more interested in him as time passed.
"Now, we will take our leave." Benimaru stood up from his chair and signaled the other two to follow him.
Vio and Savrena also stood up to escort them out of the tent as a form of respect, but they were stopped by Benimaru all of a sudden. "Lords, I am curious about one thing. Why do you want the city so much?"
They didn't reply to him right away; instead, they walked forward. "Let's go. I will explain to you along the way."
Benimaru and the other two followed side by side with Vio and listened to what he had to say.
"There is no hidden meaning for capturing that city. We just want to have a stronger fortress to withstand the Purge." Vio said it with a grim tone.
"Purge?" Benimaru and the other two were surprised to hear such a word. They became extremely curious about this "Purge" Vio is talking about.
"Mind if you tell us what this Purge is?" Benimaru asked politely.
Vio and Savrena raised their eyebrows in bewilderment, as the Purge was something all the high ranking demons knew about, so the trio had to know such things. But from their curious gazes, Vio and Savrena could tell they were not faking it.
This made them curious about this organization's identity.
However, tossing these thoughts out of his mind, Vio carefully explained. "The Purge is done by the gods and goddesses to weed out all the weaker beings and create strong ones. It happens every thousand years, and we have one in our age, unfortunately."
"It will happen in three years. At that time, ferocious creatures of the otherworld will invade this plane, trying to destroy everything in their path, and the whole world will descend into chaos."
This shook Benimaru and the other two's hearts, feeling an impending existential crisis.
'What is this? Why are all of these once-in-a lifetime events happening while I am here? First the Star Shower of Prosperity, and now this.' Despite being perplexed, Benimaru asked with a low voice. "Does the Star Shower of Prosperity happen at the same time as the Purge? Or is it rare? If it isn't, then what other events that might come in the future do you know about?"
Vio thought for a bit, trying to figure out if he missed something before answering. "No, this type of alignment is very rare. Because if it happens at the same time, then it wouldn't be a purge to remove the weak but a playground and showcase for the geniuses of the Star Shower of Prosperity. The higher beings would not let it happen in a million years. So, there might be variables in this purge, and that is why it is making us so desperate to get a stronghold of humans that are easy to guard. Also, about the events in the future, well, there are none to begin with, or maybe I do not know."
"Hmmm," They came outside of the tent as Vio finished speaking. One could see Benimaru rubbing his chin, appearing to be in deep thought.
Stopping in their tracks, Benimaru once again asked. "Where will the otherworldly creatures come from? I mean, will they spawn in random places or in a designated spot?"
"They will come from the edges of this world's plane. So you can understand more how vulnerable we are, as just a few hundred kilometers away is the edge." Vio's face turned grim.
Benimaru now fully understands Vio's situation, or that of the lowly Demon Knights and Demon Barons. They were, as one could say, on the vanguard of the war; they had to bear the burden of the frontal onslaught. There were a few strong demons with unimaginable strength hiding in the forest areas where they had turned their piece of land according to their favorability; people have marked them as Forbidden Zones.
Weaker demons like them could enter these Forbidden Zones and work under these strong demonic beings. But that was very unlikely, as the masters of the Forbidden Zones go out of their way to capture demons with the potential to have them work under them. So, if you try to request that they give you a spot when they don't want to, you will only be calling for your death.
'Wait a minute…does that mean…?' Benimaru looked into Vio's eyes and asked. "Lord Vio, so the masters of the Forbidden Zones will also come out and try to occupy a city of their own."
Sure, these masters were strong, but not strong enough to stop the overwhelming numbers of otherworldly creatures on their own, and there was also the possibility of strong otherworldly creatures like them.
"Yes, the world will fall into chaos in these few years. I hope you have a place in your mind, Slayer." Vio warned Benimaru, to which he nodded his head.
Benimaru decided to end their conversation and leave, but remembering something in his mind, he stopped. He looked at Vio and said. "Lord Vio, have this as a gift for answering all of these questions for me."
Vio and Savrena were confused by what Benimaru was trying to say. Their eyes widened as a sword came out from his right palm, making them and the soldiers alert.
Savrena cursed in her mind as she prepared to have her weapon out too. 'These pieces of sh*t! They were acting all along.'I think you should take a look at
However, to their surprise, Benimaru didn't attack them. He swung his sword at an uncut tree near them. A crescent moon-shaped purple thunder shot out of his sword and landed on the canopy in the blink of an eye.
Boom
The upper side of the tree broke in several pieces, and from it, surprisingly, a body dropped to the ground.
The body was that of a man—a human at that. Alert and tense flashed across the entire camp. The man was in a brown cloak and had his face covered with a brown mask, made of cloth. The man looked up, groaning from the pain of his injured body.
However, the man's face was filled with dread when he saw three people, whom he was following at the time, standing before him.
"Tsk, tsk. Spies have infiltrated to the very core of your camp, Lord Vio." Benimaru joked with Vio, giving glances at Vio's seething face.
The man quickly decided to blurt out everything about Benimaru, knowing it might divert Vio's attention and let him escape. "Wait, don't kill me! This man-"
Bam
However, the man wasn't able to finish his sentence because his head exploded with the right sweep of Ragnar's leg.
"Oh my, when did spies have permission to say?" Benimaru appeared surprised, not expecting the spy to explain himself.
But this brought a frown to Vio and Savrena's faces. Savrena asked. "Why did you kill him? We could have pulled out some useful information out of his mouth."
Benimaru turned his head, glancing at Savrena with a big grin. "Well, do I even have to say who these spies might be from? Why do you want to gather information about something that you will be destroying with your hands."
"You…" Savrena gritted her teeth secretly. She couldn't understand anything about Benimaru. He could become the most friendly person you have ever met or the most passive-aggressive. But the way he talks and the things he says make her hard to refute.
"We wasted a lot of time, We will take our leave now, lords. There are many things we have yet to prepare." Giving a slight bow, Benimaru and his generals mounted on the carriage.
Finally, Benimaru left with his army, leaving behind a dust trail for everyone in the camp to see.
Meanwhile, Vio and Savrena stood alone, as they were a bit conflicted.
Savrena decided to seek Vio's opinion first. "What do you think about them, Vio?"
Vio gave a few careful thoughts before saying. "I think we should have our guards up against them. I have this nagging feeling that we are going to face a crisis."
"So, should we really follow their instructions?" Savrena asked, as this was the most viable option, according to Vio's decision.
"Yes, we should." Contrary to Savrena's expectations, Vio decided to go along with Benimaru. "Do not think too much. That is just a gut feeling of mine, I might be wrong or even right. But that doesn't take away from the fact that we need the city. And I also told them about the Purge, so they will be desperate too to have one for themselves. They might even join us when he captures that city."
Savrena nodded her head in awe and amazement at Vio's rational thinking.
She felt more and more that she was right to have her eyes on him.
…
On Benimaru's side.
Benimaru looked at the passing greenery and commented with a smirk. "Those guys might be thinking I will team up with them more because of the unexpected event called the Purge I heard for the first time."