"I see so you'll become the leader of this new country and the soon that we established it, you will go back to your homeworld and leave everything here to me?" Jamine said while looking at Souta.
"Yes, that's the gist of it," Souta said as he smiled. "But don't worry, you can still contact me if you encountered any problem."
Jamine sighed and she knew that Souta wouldn't help her in managing this country. Everything will fall into her hands and she had to solve it alone. A newly established country will naturally encounter a lot of problems at first. Luckily, she had experience in running a kingdom before.
"Fine..."
She sighed as she gave up on her. At least her position was high.
"Um..." Lydia looked at Souta as she raised her hand to gather his attention. She had something to say to him.
"What is it, Lydia?" Souta asked as he saw her looking at him like she had something in her mind. "Speak. Tell me what's on your mind."
"I'm sorry." Lydia apologized.
"Hmm... Why?" Souta was confused as he didn't even have an idea why she was apologizing to him.
"I-I will not follow you. I want to stay here and help Jamine." Lydia said as she lowered her head. She owed a lot of things to Souta and she felt that she couldn't repay him even if she served him in her entire life.
She wanted to help him but she also wanted to help her friend that she hadn't seen for a long time. Everyone was going to leave and Jamine didn't have anyone to support her. That's why she decided to stay here and help her friend even if it means abandoning her chance to increase her power level in Imperium.
"I understand."
Souta nodded his head as he glanced at Jamine. He could understand what's on her mind and it wasn't a problem if Lydia was going to stay here. In fact, his concern would become less if she stayed here to protect Jamine from those greedy people.
"I will not give any talisman to Jamine as you still have that transmission talisman that I gave you before, right?"
"Yeah..." Lydia nodded.
"It's fine. I can understand your feelings. Also, it's better if Jamine has someone that she could fully trust besides her." Souta said as he glanced at Jamine.
To have someone that you could leave your back in this world full of uncertainty was something that he didn't experience before. He could still remember how scared he was when he arrived in Undead Sanctuary.
That's why he was glad when he got Yuko. She became his only source of emotion that could keep him sane.
"Thank you, Souta!!" Lydia said as she kneeled down in front of Souta. Her action startled everyone present in the room but she ignored them and continued, "I'm really glad that you lend me your strength at that time. I'm pretty desperate in need of allies at that time. I was alone and no one lend me a hand except for you. So I really thanked you from the bottom of my heart. I will not forget this debt until I die."
"This..." Souta didn't expect her to do this too. It caught him off guard.
Lydia wasn't finished, "If you have any problems. I will answer any of your calls and if comes down to it I will even stake my life for you. You're the only one I will treat as my leader."
'Fuck! This is embarrassing!' Souta said inwardly while looking at Lydia who was kneeling in front of him. But he didn't disrupt her, afraid of making her down.
But then, something unexpected happened again.
The dragon who was high and mighty bowed down its head. His voice rang out, "I'll give you my name. This one is called Doranjan. From now on, I will treat you as my king and follow you till the end. I will submit my body and soul to my king."
The dragon finally revealed its name and showed his intention to serve Souta. The mighty dragons of folklore bowed down its head and recognized Souta as its king.
Franklin looked at the two and a smile formed on his wrinkled face. 'This seems interesting.' He thought as he followed the dragon and Lydia. He kneeled and opened his mouth, "This old man, Franklin Estuper, will offer you my body and soul to experience the thrill of being alive. I will stand by your side and will fight any danger that comes. I will become your sword that will cut down any people that threatened you."
After that, Torkez bowed down along with Jamine.
"I, Torkez Grandin, offer everything to my king. I will serve you until the day that I die."
"I, Jamine Fleu Rendxynus, will serve you as my king. I will forever be grateful for saving me and taking down my lifelong enemy. In return, I will do everything to the best of my ability to help you."
The last one who kneeled was Isabella.
"I don't have anything to say except for being grateful to you, Souta. Words can't express my feelings when you freed me from my status of being a slave."
Souta glanced at Alice who was looking at him. He just didn't expect this situation to occur suddenly so his mind blanked out for a few seconds.
Alice nodded her head and Souta didn't know what she means by that. Well, since he couldn't escape it might as well accept them.
Ehem!
Souta coughed forcefully and he turned his attention on the people who were kneeling. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "Just do what you want. Just don't blame me when you die later as I will encounter a lot of hardship and challenges in my journey. Those weak-willed people should back down as the problem I will face in the future is a hundred times higher than dealing with the Great Astley Empire. You should prepare yourself and resolve yourself to die at any moment. No one could expect what will happen in the future."
""We understand.""
Torkez and the rest said at the same time but Franklin's words were different from them.
"I don't understand. I will truly understand it once I've arrived there and personally experience the nature of the so called Great World."
Souta glanced at Franklin with interest in his eyes. This old man was really different from others.
He then turned to others and said, "Yes, Franklin is right. All of you wouldn't be able to understand it by simply listening to my words. You will experience it soon once you followed me."
His words were right. He will take those high-level quests and it was much different than defeating the empire. The danger will be several times higher and there's a chance that they will die. But Souta had to take it cause he knew that the moment of peace will be gone soon. Everything will be engulfed in the flames of war and he had to increase his strength so that he could counter those problems that will get in his way of surviving in this chaotic era.
"That's all. I hope you prepare yourself. After we stabilize the Astros, we will immediately leave this planet." Souta said as he clapped his hand and dismissed everyone.
Yuko and Yenxa weren't here but he knew that those two will follow him. They were bound by a contract after all and Souta could simply summon them if he wanted them by his side.
After that, Souta went to his room to give them a time to process the information that he gave them. Up until now, only Saya and Isabella learned what will happen in the future about the coming calamity in the whole universe. The unknown enemies of the ancient era will be coming towards this universe.
Souta closed the door of his room. He picked a bottle of blue liquid on the table before he sat down on his bed. A mouth with rows of razor-sharp teeth opened on his palm.
"The parasitic essence eater is really a mysterious creature. They aren't in the category of monsters and humans. They just depend on their host to survive."
He muttered as he removed the cap of the bottle and poured the blue liquid on the mouth that formed his palm.
Swoosh!
He was storing the mana in his parasite. It was one of the functions of the parasites. This way he could hide his best feram once he arrived in the Great World Imperium.
His base form was already as strong as an A-rank and his release form could rival those powerful S-rank.
He wasn't worried about himself. He was already strong enough to defend himself against most of the people in the Imperium except for those almighty SS-rank and above.
The only problem was Torkez and Franklin. They were too weak compared to the people from Imperium. Franklin was an A-rank but he didn't even master some high-level combat arts to solidified his combat prowess. He was even sure that Alice could defeat him easily.