The Runic Alchemist-Chapter 703: The Alliance & The Demons 2

"Shall we leave then?" Vidalia said.

"This way.." Bonecrusher led the way.

Tristan remained back at the frontlines—only the three of them followed behind the towering pugilist and came out onto an open path connecting two stone buildings, with added wood here and there. All four of them could fly, so they ascended into the sky and flew toward inland Dawnstar, to the border city of Kaer Xyth.

It was bigger than Damian had assumed it would be from all the maps he had seen. Some of the grey stone buildings even reached 50–60 meters in height, shaped like Y-shaped skyscrapers. They were old, much older than that statue Damian had seen in Seraphim Luminara. Many had been patched up or repaired with modern stone structure techniques. The population of the city was quite a lot.

He had heard from Einar that all major cities in Dawnstar were packed full with both Dawnstar and Empire’s people, mixed into one combined country. The internal management was described by Evrin as hell. Dawnstar people were treated as second-tier civilians, but they were not robbed of their properties and land by the Empire. Still, the rules and order were a mess for the new Empire. This city was filled with people rescued from the Empire.

Damian could sense the Dragon Emperor in one of the highest buildings at the center of the city. He wasn’t alone—near him were three third-rankers, one of them Damian knew very well: the princess of Faerunia. Was she the new transcendent born in Faerunia a few years ago?

Damian, along with Vidalia, Ilvanya, and Bonecrusher, landed somewhere in the middle of the tall building the emperor was in. The Empire’s soldiers in red and gold stood tall in their positions, guarding the hallways. An official came, greeted them, and showed them the way in.

The second third-ranker near the emperor was also someone Damian had met before—the swordsman he and Sam had fought while rescuing Lucian’s father and the other Dawnstar people. He had no idea what the guy’s name was.

The third transcendent, Damian had never met before—but it was fair to assume he or she was Faerunian, tagging along with the princess.

They walked through many connecting hallways, taking turns here and there, and finally arrived at the largest throne room Damian had ever seen. The ceiling was really high. The throne was also repaired—the distinction between the two types of stone was clear to see. The Dragon Emperor was seated there, with the spellsword transcendent of the Empire beside him.

The princess of Faerunia had aged like fine wine. There was no surprise in her eyes or in her companion’s—a female in a blue and black robe with a staff in her hand—meaning she knew everything about him that Alex did. There was amusement in her eyes more than fear or anger—meaning she had not received the reports from their armies at Edgeheaven and Sanctuary’s borders. Unaware of what had transpired.

Three from Eldoris, two from the Empire, two from Faerunia, and one Damian—the official meeting of the allied nations began with an Empire official introducing all present members. In the end, he mentioned:

"..And Second Keeper of Sanctuary—the Runebreaker, who appeals to join the alliance. This meeting is called to decide on that request."

No one said anything. The emperor had emptied the room, given them padded chairs to sit—only the eight transcendents and a few of the Empire’s officials had remained. The emperor was still on his throne—not joining the rest of them below. The spellsword stood right behind his throne. The stone crown on the young emperor’s head rested effortlessly. The guy’s eyes shifted from Damian to Ilvanya to the Faerunian princess. The princess, on the other hand, still looked at Damian with amusement—as if his changed appearance was something she just could not let go from her mind.

"Seeing that you arrived together, am I to assume Eldoris agrees with Sanctuary joining the alliance as an individual region?" the emperor asked at last, not wasting any time in chit-chat.

All eyes turned toward Vidalia, seated beside Damian.

"Yes," she replied simply. "Eldoris recognizes the Sanctuary as an independent region and agrees to welcome them into this alliance."

"What have you to off—" the emperor began another question, but Damian interrupted him in the middle.

"If it’s all right with everyone, can I invite the representative of Highsword here?"

The emperor narrowed his eyes, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. The princess spoke up though, showing her young age,

"Do they still exist?"

No one answered her. Damian kept looking at the emperor for the answer. At last, he nodded slightly. Damian did not look toward the Faerunians at all and opened a waygate right in the middle of all the seated representatives.

The blue shimmering waygate materialized, and in a few seconds Mindseer stepped out of it. Another chair was placed opposite the emperor himself, and Mindseer took a seat, eyeing Damian for calling her at the very last minute.

He could have gotten her earlier, but then he wouldn’t have witnessed the widened eyes of the Dragon Emperor and the Faerunians. Him doing the chantless spell aside, the emperor must have remembered the last time he had seen Damian use the waygate—answering his unasked question from before. There was indeed much he and the Sanctuary could offer.

Whether they could join or not was not even a question—he did not need them. The alliance was actually the one in need of his abilities.

For the Faerunians, it would just be a bitter confirmation of the fantasy-like tale their young prince had told them years ago.

"Guess there is no need for discussion—" the emperor said, "Who is in favor of allowing the Sanctuary to be part of this alliance?"

As expected, other than the Faerunians, all nodded their heads in favor of allowing them to join. Even the emperor himself. The danger of Damian as a wild card aside—the Empire didn’t have much choice other than accepting the helping hand, even if they had no idea if it would truly help them or not.

Just breaking the stalemate for now was necessary for them. If not—Faerunians would eventually gobble more and more of their regions without any shame.

Now, with that out of the way, Damian could get to the main point—how to deal with the demons.

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