247. Tree-minus Two

247. Tree-minus Two

Year 250

Three years till first alignment of the demons comet. We see it bright and clear in the void sea, its transmission to the worlds were picked up by our sensors across all the demon-infested worlds.

It taunts us with its presence. I wonder whether its intentional, or its just confidence that theres nothing we can do to stop a planetary comet barreling our way.

Lumoof returned from the stint on the Beastworld, and Stella sent her [void explorer] further. Im not sure if well see them again, but what we shared with the Cheecaks hive mind was a story told a thousand times over.

Instead, my attention was split on our preparations on the Demonic Turtleworld, and also Mountainworld where a demon king should be arriving any time.

My void mages on the Mountainworld observed the path of the stars to the demon world grow in strength and form, almost enough for the void mages to activate the rift gates and send our own spies through to the other side.

Preparations on both worlds were fairly intense but the preparations for the demons comet truly stretched our forces and our resources, and caused wild swings in the economies of Treehome and Mountainworld.

We sent resources to our bunkers and bases on Tropicsworld in huge batches, enough to build new cities outright. Steel, iron, metals. Stone. We bought so many for the weapons and bases we constructed on Tropicsworld and also the Demonic Turtleworld.

To make bombs, we bought so many crystals, and materials for runes that we essentially caused a shortage of runic language liquids and ink.

To set up the void platforms and amplifiers, we bought all types of precious gems and rare metals. Our craftsmen and builders were fully booked, some of them working extra hours.

The resource demands to destroy a demons comet was so high that as long as any matching resource or material hit the markets, we would bid for them.

As strange as it sounded, the economic and resource demands for the Demon Comet essentially drained the fuel and fire out of the vassal wars. Soldiers couldnt fight without weapons. Warships couldnt be built without runic ink and liquids, formations or steel. Fortifications couldnt be built.

Even magical scrolls were in short supply because we kept buying and ordering scrolls.

In order to stockpile food, should we ever need to resort to a large-scale evacuation, we bought seeds and various long-lasting food types for storage on the other worlds.

For merchants and for the kingdoms on the other continents, this wild purchase drove prices up, but to me, money is always just a means of exchange. There was always gold somewhere, in some other world where we can easily mine. Some of my [subsidiary trees] were even specialized resource harvesters, collecting gold and precious metals where they are easily found.

Essentially, money was aplenty, and we could pretty much print as much as needed to pay our suppliers. Resources were not. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

Most nations, in the face of our massive buying spree, had to resort to export embargoes and export quotas, preventing merchants from selling too much, or only their excess supply. Some resorted to nationalization, where the Holy Emperor essentially commanded that certain mines were temporarily Imperial Property, in order to continue their war effort.

Ultimately, the strain on their resources placed an uncommon burden on their logistics network.

It was as if two warships sailed at each other, and both of them ran out of fuel.

As the Valtrian Order, the central Freshland authority, commonly referred to by the folks as Central, we were the preferred customer for many resource producers simply due to the scale of our orders, the military protection we provided, and the banking networks that we controlled. If we put in an order, most of them would prioritize our orders, simply to avoid offending us.

Its a threat we rarely used, but my spies ensured that the propaganda and words spread out there ensured most merchants knew their place and strongly believed we would. After the whole vassal wars, it was imperative as an organization that we were not seen as a lame duck authority. Our threats were real threats, and not just statements we didnt mean to act on.

I think about that sometimes. For threats to be real threats, there had to be action. Seen, visible action.

Actions done in my name, actions such as bribery, kidnapping, torture and assassinations. Threats. Actions.

Blood on my hands. Blood on my roots. Blood on every single leaf and tree.

I think about it, and remember that it must be done.

***

For the heroes, they were taking things easy. They were well prepared and there didnt seem like any reason for them to panic. They traveled frequently between Mountainworld, Treehome and Threeworlds.

Colette had a daughter, Rohana. She was perfectly normal, like what a human child was expected to be, and had no unusual or inherited abilities.

Both Prabu and Colette were strangely relieved, and asked that she be cared for by us, directly. I wasnt comfortable being the trustees and guardians of a heros child, and it reminded me of that time when Roma was growing up.

History sure loves to rhyme, and with enough time, there is always a rhyming pair. Ken naturally understood my position, and instead volunteered to arrange for other long lived persons to play the role. In this case, Ken actually asked Kei, Lausanne and Edna to play the role of Godmothers.

It wasnt the first child. Hafiz had many children outside, with his little harem, but Hafiz always kept his harem separate from the rest of the heroes. Chung, prior to his infatuation with Khefri, also had a harem, with some children too.

But as strange as it was, I was fairly sure the heroes didnt consider their children to be one of them. Ive observed Hafiz with his harem, and I could tell there was some genuine love for his harem. Yet, there was always a wall that these children didnt get through.

Their children were not part of this little club of earthlings.

Rohana was different. She was the first child born to two heroes Ive known so far, and it was actually quite difficult for Colette to conceive Prabus child. It was a matter that strained the couples relationship, and was instructive to both Khefri and Chung.

I learned something throughout Colettes challenges, even though I had to play the role of a voyeur, after Prabu came to me for assistance.

Especially if we plan to have a large civilian group traveling between worlds in the future, for commercial and social traffic.

In the meantime, my lords suggested the creation of a second representative council, one called only when I desired their views, each with representatives from each of the Clone Worlds.

Year 251

The Comet got closer, and my void mages actually tried to reach it from the asteroids of the Demon Turtleworld. It was still too far.

Even Stella couldnt go so far.

Couldnt you use your void explorer on the Comet? Edna complained, and it was an idea raised before. But the void explorer actually needs to travel back to Stella. It is not something that can just be dispelled. Perhaps some day, Stella would gain levels and unlock multiple Void Explorers. That would significantly improve our exploration speed.

Still, all of this was not fruitless. We were getting better at detecting, scanning and figuring out the nature of the demonic world. Just like how scientists of Earth had many tools and scanners to detect the composition of a planet, our magical tools improved over the decades.

Our tools suggested a high likelihood of crystals, and so its likely to be a rocky planet filled with daemolite.

I could tell there was an undercurrent of worry and anxiety among the Valthorns tasked to prepare for the alignment of the Demonic Turtleworld and the Cometworld, especially the void mages.

Everything depended on the void mages actually successfully opening a portal to the Cometworld. If there was some kind of core-defense, just like how planetary cores shredded void portals close to their core, then we would be in trouble.

Infiltrate, Manipulate, Redirect, Destroy, Evacuate. If infiltration failed, evacuation was the only way.

***

On Mountainworld, the Star Path to the demon world solidified. We should be seeing the rifts soon, though so far, there was none spotted.

My void mages on the Mountainworld, on average, were less experienced than the team on the Demonic Turtleworld, but they were still led by my experienced void archmage, and Stella still moved between the two worlds to provide some guidance and oversight.

Its in our interest to settle this worlds demon king as quickly as possible, so that we could redirect manpower to the demon comet.

Alka, after a long and convoluted argument, decided that it was best that he supported the heroes on the Mountainworld. He needed the levels, and if he could blow the demon king up, or weaken it significantly, he could get stronger and use that strength to hack at the comet.

I didnt want to risk it with the demon king. Demon Kings can vary wildly in strength, and some have really unusual power sets, so I felt it was an unnecessary risk for Alka.

Despite my disagreements with that approach, we put it to a vote with my domain holders. Edna, Roon and Johann all supported Alkas attempts to grow stronger. To the three, fighting demon kings was absolutely normal, so they didnt think it was a problem.

Lumoof and Stella opposed, preferring the more conservative approach, and partly because we didnt know how long my respawn process was.

Oh well.

Well just have to deal with the consequences, whatever they are.

Spaizzer

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