Garami's PoV:

One day, one measly day after the Yamatai Grand Festival/Nightmare was taken down for good, I had to participate in my first official "Babel Supreme Commander"-meeting. 

...and the big boss is late. Come on, hurry up. I've yet to recharge my Damavand-inium gauge yet. Well, my conversation partner is a somewhat interesting guy, so I can kill some time...but huuuurry uuuuup, you lazy demon/dragon/destroyer...

"Sorry, everyone. Collecting all the data regarding the World Quest took more time than expected." - Filyn

That's the first thing coming out of your mouth-!?

"Relax, boss. You two are only 1 minute late."

...okay, guess I can forgive her for that. Blame me for coming way too early...

"Then, let us start the meeting." - Filyn

The meeting room, decorated with a single round table, turned quiet with those words, as everyone focused on Filyn. Not that there are that many of us. Only 5 persons are sitting at the table including Filyn, and at most 2 attendees for each participant.

"Okay~, boss. We're ready for anything." 

Clockwise to Filyn was the girl who spoke up first when Filyn entered the room. She's a blond-haired beauty with butterfly-like wings on her back and a healthy body. Her face could make her pass as some princess, and her light dress made from white- and golden threads could make you believe she was some fairy princess. Well, she is a fairy.

The blonde beauty is Aella Asifha, an Eclair Fairy Queen and the Grandmaster of the Adventurers' Union, as well as one of the four supreme commanders of Belial. 

She's also the one who recommended Ciara to join my Guild, as well as the only other supreme commander that I have met in person. It happened on one of the few days before we left Velantas, where Carion introduced me to her.

Thinking back, the reason Carion agreed to hand over those Magic Stones so easily back then must have been some potential plot by orders of Blot...hey, that rhymed. 

"Let it be anything at all. My men are itching to vent their anger because they can't cheat themselves to a Dragon Slayer-series skill anymore."

The guy sitting on Aella's left is Robert Bermuda. A walrus-type Beastkin who's also one of the supreme commanders and the grand captain of the Bermuda Sea-Slayer Fleet Company, one huge trading- and mercenary company who makes their living by transporting goods through the seaways and by hunting vicious sea monsters. Also, it's the same guy that the penguin from Matata Island, Kingpin, is now working for.

Bermuda is dressed like a typical pirate. A white shirt and a blue leather jacket on top of that, black boots, and even a classic tricorne with a jolly roger on it. Or, it looks like a jolly roger, but it's actually the mark of the Sea-Slayer Fleet Company. Most people would beat you to a pulp if you ever make that mistake and said it out loud. 

And aside from me, Bermuda's the only guy who was working for her both within Nequitas and Babel. Plus, this guy's the strongest member of Babel due to his many years of slaying high-ranked, high-leveled sea monsters.

As for the comment about the Dragon Slayer-series skill, it seems that the System Update related to the Festival/Nightmare removed the Quest from the World System. This is just hearsay, but apparently, that Quest was only added as a joke in the earlier years of the System,  back when the idea of a long-lived, yet weak Dragon was something ridiculous.

And since they planned to get rid of the Quest ever since they started the Festival/Nightmare...both Iron and I can be glad that the idiots on Luxuria never solved the riddle.

"I for my part wish that the Miss would warn us before such a sudden gathering. Not that there was an opportunity for that, I have to admit."

And the last of my three colleagues is an albino rabbit Beastkin...not. He's a demon with an appearance of a humanoid rabbit, but my [Empyrean Eyes] can see that his core is different compared to Bermuda and closer to me and Filyn. 

The demon's name is Rivert Flamel. He's dressed in a black suit and wears a black tophat with openings to let his ears pop out. He also has various golden accessories on him, such as a golden monocle over his right eye, a golden clock, and a walking stick made from black wooden with, you guessed it, a golden handle.

This guy may be the biggest breadwinner for the organization after Blot. I mean, this guy is the head of the Alchemists' Union, not to mention the pioneer and master in the art of mutation transplantation. He's also an interesting conversation partner. 

"Sorry, but this time, we may be in over our heads." - Blot

Blot, who had arrived with Filyn and stood behind her, produced a holographic display over the continent of Invidia. Shape-wise, it's the same as Australia on Earth, I guess? Velantas is located as one HUGE lake in the middle of the continent, while the rest of the continent could be divided into six pieces, each considered a "realm" of Invidia.

Starting from the top and going clockwise, we have:

• Avalar, the human realm. Lots of forests and hills there. The main capital is the Holy Knight City of Avalar.
• Loitan, the dragon realm. Either great wastelands or huge mountains here. The capital is Loitan, the dragon kingdom Flint grew up in.
• Sekarot, the desert realm. It's the desert where Damavand is placed. No capitals here. 
• Solomar, the demon realm. It's a combination of a volcanic hellscape and ruins of unknown origin spread across the whole realm. Its capital is obviously the Fiendish Capital, Solomar.
• Invidia Marshlands, the beast realm. It consists of equal parts marshlands and rocky caverns, and its coastline is covered with fishing towns and sea caves. Despite the many towns spread across the coastline, there is no capital.
• Invidia Gorge, the undead realm. An extremely elevated and huge highland that has a huge gorge running through it. Tons of Death- and Undead aether contaminates the gorge, making it a hive for the undead that makes Tir na Nog look comfy in comparison, and the highland itself is a deadland. Obviously, no capitals here. At least, none with any living creatures in it.

Hmm? There is a map for Luxuria as well? But only for the Mystic Mountains. And there are markers of various colors placed across the map. One on the Mountains, two on Loitan, three on Solomar, four in the Marshlands, one in the Gorge, and one in Avalar.

"And these are?" - Bermuda

"They are the locations regarding the points of interest of the Coronation Quest. It took us a while, but we discovered them all before anyone else." - Blot

"Hmm..., and any news on the current Overlord?" -  Bermuda

"That's-" - Blot

"Excuse me," I asked, "but what is this Overlord character, exactly?"  

"The Overlord..., Invidia's Overlord is the Tyrant Emperor Dracolich of the Invidia Gorge." - Flamel

"What the heck's with that scary-sounding dragon?" - Garami

"It's an A-rank Dracolich evolved from the Evil Dracolich-species. And this specimen is extremely special. It has a Blessing of Ultimate Death from the Ultimate God Tharos, making it completely immune to any attempts of purifying it. It is not even affected by the sunlight," said Aella, the expert on monsters that adventurers are likely to hunt down.

"As one can guess from its name, it is also a Royal Monster, which has this unfortunate side-effect of sharing said Blessing to all the undead in the Invidia Gorge where it resides. Its Danger Rank is S- on its own, but it always goes around with its army of the undead, and it even has the power to resurrect any of its fallen allies." - Allea

"I heard the rumors, but it's that bad?" - Bermuda

"Probably worse, as all our data about it is simply hearsay from people watching the beast from a distance. I even have reports of it resurrecting the corpses of monsters into new undead. If this ability is from a skill, it has to be an Extra Skill. One limited to Dracoliches at that." - Allea

Freaky. Onyx would turn green from envy if he's not preparing some escape plan from that thing.

"Good news is that the Tyrant has no interest in the world outside the Gorge, so people are generally leaving it in peace. It's even possible that it will grant adventurers items related to the undead if they impress it. Even the local undead are worshiping it as some local deity." - Allea

The undead is worshiping an undead as a god? Surreal. The part about it giving undead-related stuff is interesting though. I would want to form a friendly relationship with that guy, er, undead.

"Stop talking as if we're going to attack that thing. If Blot's calculations are right-" - Filyn

"They are always right." - Blot

"-then the beast will return to its lair in the Gorge if we end the Quest." - Filyn

Hmm, so the goal here is to win the Quest without letting this guy do too much damage. What did the Quest...

"Meaning that we've got 1 month and 1 week left before doomsday comes?" - Garami

"Oh, good naming there. And that's the gist, folks. Fighting the Tyrant is simply exhausting, it will lead to tons of casualties, and there's simply no point in doing so except maybe some EXP. Though it would lead to the Gorge not having a reasonable leader anymore, and that's not good." - Filyn

Yeah, I don't want a wild zombie apocalypse now and then. The Tyrant is a good guy. I'll put him as #3 on my "good monster-guy"-list. Azi's the eternal #1, and Garn the Volcanic Wyvern is #2.

"You got a plan then, boss? No way the two of you have wasted a whole day just to locate where these towers are?" asked Allea, referring to the markers on the map.

"Alli-chan really knows me~," said Filyn in a joking manner that earned her a glare from the fairy queen. "Blot and I already have laid some plans. And Garami, you especially are gonna love them."

Oh, boy. Troublesome days, here we come...

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Kigal-Note/Undead: Tyrant Emperor Dracolich