Leon turned to Eric, a bit confused.
“Yes, I traveled to the Swamp of Despair. I told you that before I left.” Leon replied.
“Yes, I remember you told me. I just wanted to be sure. Did you enter the Despair Dungeon?” Eric nodded his head. He still remembered when he had expressed his doubts about Leon traveling to the Swamp of Despair.
“Alright, what of it? Come on, tell me straight and don’t drag me around.” Leon folded his arms and turned his full attention to the brown haired man.
“Forgive me. I am only curious as to whether you managed to conquer the dungeon. It is an A rank dungeon, and if you gain its approval, then things would be much easier for us on this side.” Eric finally laid bare his thoughts.
“Hehe, as a matter of fact, I did gain its approval.” Leon grinned. “But I left the dungeon back at the Gublin Empire because I need to handle some diplomatic matters before taking it from them. It does not matter too much since I will still be able to summon the spawns of the dungeon here.” He said.
“That is marvelous!” Eric’s eyes glow with excitement. Most of his excitement stems from the fact that Leon possessed the strength to beat an A rank being. That meant that Leon had already reached A rank! This also meant that he was serving an A rank being, while gave him a lot of clout! While the clout did not matter now, when Leon’s budding empire became a big deal, he would be able to brag a lot about being on one Leon’s right hand men!
The meeting carried on for a while more before Leon ended it. He led the two men to the courtyard of his mansion where he stood, his arms by his side. Leon’s consciousness receded into his mind as he resonated with the Dungeon Core that he had taken from the Despair Dungeon.
Whoosh!
A portal appeared out of thin air. The portal was directly connected with the Despair Dungeon, and in a few moments, several figures stepped out of the portal. A dozen lizardmen of various shapes and sizes emerged from the portal, eyes wide and confused. Their intelligence was lacking, but not in the aspect of skills or magic, but rather, of their interaction with the outside world.𝑶𝐕𝐿xt.𝔠𝒪
One could see the monsters spawned by a dungeon to have basic intelligence, while being driven by their beastly instincts and desires. Only on rare occasions were the inhabitants of a dungeon actually smart and clever. The boss monsters were good examples of this, but most regular monsters were rather basic.
After that, he summoned many more Undead Lizardmen and presented them to Eric.
“Take these lizardmen to the frontlines. Let them get acclimated to what is going on. Don’t worry, they will not attack you, as you are one of my own people.” Leon ordered Eric.
“Your wish is my command.” Eric saluted and quickly left to carry out Leon’s instructions.
With that done, Leon turned to Rakon. “Tell me about the new people we have. How are they settling in? Did any trouble arise when I was away?”
.
.
In the Capital of the Gublin Empire…
Richard swaggered through the gates of the Emperor’s Castle with a smirk on his face. He waved goodbye to the guards that had welcomed him, and they waved back. After years of knowing each other, they could be considered bossom-buddies.
Another thing that helped Richard get along well with the guards was that he did not carry himself like a pretentious prick, unlike most nobles who came to visit the Emperor.
At the base of the stairs that led into the magnificent castle, an envoy waited with a smile. The young female Beastkin was in her late twenties, and she had known Richard for nearly a decade at this point. They were very good friends.
“Welcome to the Emperor’s Castle, Richard.” The lady, Ariadne, smiled and tilted her head.
“Why, thank you, Ari.” Richard grinned back.
Together, the two of them walked up the stairs and into the castle as they exchanged words.
“I saw you in Divinity’s Bout. You were spectacular!” Ariadne gushed, her feline tail curling behind her and her eyes going round in awe as she fangirled over Richard.
“Aw, shucks. I didn’t know you admired me that much.” Richard teased her, resulting in a shove that made him burst into laughter.
“Everyone was watching. Heck, even the Emperor’s voice was shaking the walls!” Ariadne laughed but lowered her voice when she spoke about the Emperor.
The two continued talking until they eventually reached a simple looking door. Ariadne smiled and knocked at the door.
“Yes, come in.” A deep, but somewhat cheery tone called from the other side. Ariadne opened the door to let Richard in, before excusing herself and closing the door.
“It’s been a while, Richard.” The Emperor was seated on a chair facing the open balcony doors of his study. As he spoke, he slowly got up, raising to his full towering height of seven feet. His shoulders were broader than Richard’s upper body was tall, and he exuded a mighty, indomitable vibe from his body.
“You’re right, but even if its been a while, that doesn’t mean you should act cold to your big bro!” Richard broke into a grin as the emperor turned around, holding a similarly goofy grin across his face.
If anyone else saw the normally aggressive looking emperor grinning like this, then they would most likely assume that an impostor had swapped places with him!
To most, the image that was conjured up in their minds when they thought of the emperor was a distant figure. They had seen him during public processions, and also when he was handing out public speeches and sentences. He was always cold, composed and stoic, never breaking his composure. Very rarely did anyone see him smile.
“You claim to be the big brother when you have yet to even settle down. My children are even nearing your age.” The emperor laughed.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re always using that defense, Leo.” Richard rolled his eyes.
The story behind their friendship was rather strange.
When Leonidas was still in his teenage years, he had left his father’s castle after an argument with the former emperor. A storm had hit, and as a weak and fragile boy, he had found himself quickly lost. It was then that he had come across the Werewolf who was quite large for his young age.
At that time, Richard had only recently just lost his mother and killed her killers, so he had still been in a partially feral state, leaving him stuck in his Werewolf form.
Of course, a young and naïve Leonidas had mistaken Richard to be someone older than him. Luckily, he had a heritage of Werewolves, and his hair color was close enough to the silver of Richard’s fur, which had been enough to stop Richard from ripping him to pieces on their first meeting.
Through some miracle, the two boys had become friends. Richard was only eight, while Leonidas was eighteen. Puberty had been unkind to the older boy, which had led to him looking much smaller than others until he had reached twenty. Despite that, he did not have any issues with finding a good wife and good heirs.
Only after an entire day did the guards sent by Leonidas’ father find the missing boy. They had initially tried chasing Richard off, but Leonidas had refused, and eventually, Richard was brought along. That was how his journey of healing began. It took a few more years before he finally regained the ability to shift into his human form, revealing his young and boyish features to all, and shocking Leonidas.
“So what brings you back home? It’s been a few years.” Leonidas gestured to the seat beside his and sat back down, pouring a glass of wine for Richard.
“Err, business. Work, and a bit more.” Richard shrugged, slumping down into the chair and snatching the glass of wine from the table.
Leonidas silently listened as Richard recounted all his adventures in the past years. They shared a few laughs here and there before Richard eventually came to the topic of Divinity’s Bout.
“This Divinity’s Bout was rather exciting. There were many new talents than the last one that was recorded.” Leonidas hummed as he sipped on his wine. He looked up at the sky where the sun was beginning to set.
“Yes, you’re right.” Richard nodded his head, a smile spreading over his face as he recalled a certain friendly Undead being.
“Speaking of that, there was a rather surprising participant this time. That Undead.” Leonidas said as he refilled his cup. His way of speaking was rather relaxed and laid back as he kept drinking.
“Ah, yes. I was just about to get to that-“
Bam!
The door to the study suddenly slammed open and several figures stormed in.