Demon continent Alsace in the year 307 in the 10-month Asmodum on the 21st day after the shattering of the empire

Waterborn? Which waterborne? She continued to look at Eder for some time without taking her eyes off him. Her gaze followed him through the shelves and floors until he finally left her domain outside the library.

Even when he had long since disappeared from her domain, she still looked at the place where he had left her domain.

His statement about waterborne had been really unexpected and she didn't know if she had the same idea about waterborne as he had. Not that he meant anything different from her. For her, waterborne were mermaids, sirens, and the like not that she thought she knew all waterborne. Only she had never encountered any in Alsace.

"What do you think?" She turned to Lerna who had been sleeping under the table and had only woken up at the end of the conversation. "Well, let's look for the waterborne Eder was talking about." With that, she got up from her chair and started to climb out of the second basement.

The two Larrua who had always accompanied her the last days were not in their usual place, she had not seen if they had accompanied Eder or if they had left during the day. She looked around for a few minutes before walking down the long street, always in the shade of the huge trees.

There were surprisingly few Larrua and also Golems on the streets, not that there were particularly many, but she had already gotten used to the sight of a few Larrua. But there was no trace of them and there were even less Larrua or none at all on the road. Even below her in the corridors that formed the underground city of the Larrua, she could not see any Larrua. It all seemed very deserted and the few Larrua she saw were even tenser than the days before.

"It looks like it's going to be storming soon." She muttered, which earned her a look from Lerna, who didn't understand her. "We'd better hurry before it starts." She still didn't know if she really wanted to help in this conflict even if she was possibly a target of the other Larrua, she had enough confidence that she could escape she was not worried.

It didn't take them both long to get out of the city and arrive at their old treehouse, the last few days they had been sleeping in the city, to be more precise in Diva's prison cave. But after they had passed this one and the place she used to practice her arcane skills. After only a few meters, they were enveloped in the shadows of the Alsace forest.

She wanted to go to the watering hole she had first found and then look for others to find the Waterborn that Eder spoke of. If they were near the city and not somewhere else where the Larrua had stumbled upon them.

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The further he went with his group into the primeval forest that dominated the center of Alsac, the more dangers they encountered. Every day they were attacked from dawn to dusk and there was nothing they could do but fight back and run for their lives. Something he thought would be long behind him. He hadn't had to run from anyone since he joined Lilith's kiss.

His squad had shrunk by two men since he last heard from the other squad that was supposed to be watching the imperial troops a few days ago, and he hadn't heard from the others in a while either.

He had to admit that this was something that worried him because it could only mean that the others had been discovered by the imperials and that they had eliminated them. At about the same time, contact with headquarters and the chancellor had broken off.

The last thing he had heard was that the arcane storm they had experienced had been felt in the capital as well. Which didn't surprise him personally, since they had almost been killed by it. The message also said that the royal couple had decided to provide an army to reconquer the old territories of the empire. Which meant that they had to hurry if they wanted to capture the princess before the army got here.

This led to their current problem, if they moved faster, they couldn't watch out for traps and monsters as much as if they moved slower and with caution. Something they could no longer afford to do, which is why he drove his people day and night. Which had led to the current losses, not that he would mind them. Not knowing what his comrades would think of his own plan and what it looked like, he didn't have to worry about them ever finding out because they were all either injured or about to die.

He had heard them talking before, in which they had discussed desertion. They should go ahead if that was what they thought they needed to do. He would certainly not stop them, but he still needed them, they were good shields behind which he could hide. And he didn't want to risk his life too soon when he didn't have his prize in his hands yet. Which was the princess.

Once he had her, others would have to obey him, because she was the daughter of the current ruler of the kingdom and he would make her his wife and thus stand in the succession for the kingdom. With these thoughts, he could not help it and almost started jumping around with anticipation.

Still, he had to keep a clear head, because they were still quite a distance away from the princess, his prize for all this, after which he would never have to do such jobs again, but the organization would have to serve him.

He just had to get to the princess before anyone else.

He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the world around him. The world still had traces of colorlessness about it, here and there were places where the color was still missing, as well as the sounds of the forest sounded somewhat consumed and unreal.

Only when one of his subordinates pointed it out, it looked as if a whole column of demons had come through here. There were also traces of a fight here and there, only there was no corpse of any kind. There were no attackers or defenders.

Immediately his training resumed and he gave hand signals to his subordinates to get out and go straight out for a few hundred meters each and then come back to him.

It did not take long, then they were already again at his side and reported to him, what they had seen. After about a hundred meters it stopped and it looked again like the jungle they had been crossing for weeks, only it seemed that a mass of demons had come through here and hit a nest of these cats, for the rest he could guess and stopped listening to his subordinates.

Now they just had to find out what had come through here. It couldn't have been the army, it wasn't even mobilized yet and it would take some time before it could march through the jungle in such numbers. Which could only mean that it was one of the colonies or the renegades, even if the direction was not quite right. Because the aisle through the jungle was heading straight for the center of the continent.

Immediately he was, even more, alarmed than he had already been, something was heading for the center of the continent as was he, which like him was heading directly for the princess.

He would have to hurry with his squad if he wanted to get there before this new threat. More and more players were coming up, something he didn't like. So he pushed his squad even harder than he had the days before. With a cold hope that he would reach the princess before anyone else.