Mera was now inside her hometown, gathering information by herself.

Once she was in position and ready for the next phase, she would summon and issue a command to me. Well, that didn't mean I would loiter around and wait for her call. If she ended up betraying me and summoning me into a trap, even with my constitution, I could still die. For that reason, I had to remain diligent and track her movements on the ground properly.

She started on the edge of the great forest that was Formere. Whether it could truly be considered a city was up for debate but given its size, I decided it was a city.

"I wish I could tag along. Watching is no fun..."

Although she was a wanted criminal in the human country, that didn't seem to cause a problem here so far. That might have to do with how she was formally a spy and saboteur by trade. Despite how she normally acted around me, she was in fact very skilled in altering her appearance using magic and makeup. Moreover, she had an ability to alter her displayed status to some degree. All in all, travelling incognito was one of her specialties.

[Level 62 Mortal;
Species: Elf;
Physical: 372/372;
<Health: 372>
<Force: 293>
<Speed: 366 (enhanced)>
<Agility: 423 (enhanced)>
<Sense: 411 (enhanced)>
<Resistance: 340 (enhanced)>
Spiritual: 332/332;
<Mana: 332/332;
<Mass: 294>
<Mastery: 237>
<Detection: 241>
<Luck: 210>
Traits: Swift Slayer, Merchant, Tenacious, Mental Fortitude, Enhanced Resistances, Enhanced Physical, Enhanced Senses;
Abilities: Accelerate, Blink, Silence, Reave, Disguise ;
Blessings: N/A;
Description: A common elf.]

In terms of combat, I would say she was superior even against fey beings of similar levels. Vintelo and Mufy would have trouble even two versus one because of her extremely combat oriented abilities. From what I understood, [silence] could temporarily seal abilities, magic, and any type of verbal communications.

The sun was setting already and the forest gradual grew darker.

Since I had informed her of the defense mechanisms around the city, she agreed to disable a few magic circles for me to test the waters. Seriously, magic circles were beyond me unless I had |dedicated one| activated.

In this world, as much as I would love to learn more about these magic circles, they just gave me the headaches. To me, they were like the electronic circuits boards of computers. There were all these symbols and lines all connected to do some odd functions. Generally, the more advanced these magic circles were, the more powerful they were.

To be blunt, this city had magic circles everywhere invisible to the naked eye. Some were the size of the city while majority were only people sized. Now, I could destroy them with abilities derived from the |singularity| trait but I might mess up and end up destroying the whole city. After all, magic circles even with minor alterations could end up with completely different effects so I rather not deal with them entirely.

"While she does her things, maybe I should set up an appointment with the Highlander Emperor in two to three days? Yep, let's do that!"

Tomorrow was the day the magitech airship fleet would arrive from the north to the city of Rotask. I wanted to be there to see how things would unfold. After that, I would like to visit the unexplored area to the east to grab an assistance for Oortez and maybe to see if I could spot any troll habitats.

There was a plan to visit the Federation but that was for last. Since Oortez was most familiar with that nation, it would be best if he was in a great mood to guide me around. Not only that, the reptilians seemed to be a male dominant society. If I wished to make contact with their leader for any negotiation, a male form might be more preferable.

In any case, capturing and eliminating overly powerful demons took priority. I simply couldn't allow them to become the dominant force of this world.

"Now... Who should I use as a messenger?" I murmured as I pondered.

Of the maids, with Snowberry on a business trip, only four remained. Of the four, Cranberry and Gooseberry were there permanently to take of the guests and the facilities. Blackberry was in charge of taking care of Smoothie specifically while Blueberry was mostly in charge of cooking.

"Mm... This is difficult! Should I just create another one or let Kanoko take care of my little girl? Asking a friend for a favor... I'm not good at that."

As much as I would love to create more special clones of myself, it wouldn't do if I couldn't consciously keep track all of them. I had already lost connection with one. I didn't want to lose another. Moreover, demons and devious individuals could hijack the links and steal my clones under certain circumstances. Contrarily, phantom creations had no such drawbacks but they would dissipate shortly thereafter without my mana input.

After contemplating a bit, I decided to personally deliver a letter requesting an appointment with the Highlander Emperor. I had a general idea where the city was anyway.

I definitely wasn't multitasking too much!

Whilst keeping an eye on Mera, I made a quick dash from one end of the continent to the other end of the continent. Midway through, I removed the barrier around me that kept air resistance to zero, leaving a long streak of amber light as I zipped across the sky.

As a side note, only some sea creatures bared witness to the unidentified flying objects passing by.

"It's a bird, it's a comet, no it's me! Heheh..."

Zortek, the imperial capital of the Grusia Empire, sat on a wide plateau thousands of meters in elevation above sea level. Strictly speaking, that was only the city centre. Other mountain peaks and cliffs that poked out of the cloud bed, were carved and flattened, became living spaces for the locals. Anyhow, this place was literally above a sea of clouds with the best seat of the house for stargazing enthusiasts.

Because trees were scarce in this region, all the buildings here were constructed of bricks and stones. The more prosperous districts used colorful roofing tiles to distinguish themselves from the others.

There was no obvious agriculture or animal grazing at mere glance. But upon detailed examination, an unique cultivar of fruit was grown on cliff sides that seemed to be a local specialty. Furthermore, much like the Juds in Vera, mountains were hollowed to not only allow additional living spaces but also places to raise domesticated animals.

For those without wings or incapable of flight, travelling via winged lizards would be advised. Though, owning one of those special rides might be quite expensive.

The emperor's palace was fairly easy to identify.

A pristine white superstructure with a dome shape on top like a grand temple, it was decorated with immense numbers of magic crystals that either shone under the soft moonlight.

There wasn't another white architecture around here, meaning the materials were likely transported from distant lands.

Truly breathtaking.

"Wow... Maybe I should try replicating it... Ahem, now where's the reception?"

Currently, to avoid any confusions, I was in my celestial form with three pairs of magnificent wings. I definitely didn't want them thinking a human intruder snuck into their country's capital city.

Since it was night time, only a few winged beasts were flying about.

Here, the winged beasts took many forms. Harpy types like Haelley were a minority. Some had two pairs of feathered wings and a lion head while others had leathery wings and looked more like bats. In most cases, they seemed to have humanlike arms and hands, especially those more evolved ones. Otherwise I would have questioned how they managed to build these amazing architectures.

Unsure where to go, I landed in front of the imperial palace.

The gates were wide open even at this hour. Two armored guards each holding a spear stood to two sides.

I greeted one of them with courteous smile. "Hello, I would to meet up with the Highlander Emperor in three days. Is that alright?" Greeting strangers was never my forte. Occasionally I could pull it off but more often than not, I'd end up messing up.

The two guards looked at each other and discussed something in a foreign language. After that, one of them jogged into the palace.

Oh right... Maybe they don't speak the common language. Maybe I should pick it up in the future...

I could technically use a form of telepathy via [hypnosis] but since it might be seen as an act of aggression, I decided to wait and see.

Moments later, the guard returned with someone in tow.

I see... Ever in doubt, have a fey translator... I'm surprised they managed to get someone this late into the hour.

The person they got was actually very much like Vintelo, a wolf headed winged fey beast. As matter of fact, the only difference was probably due to evolution or variations in transformation. This one before me was standing upright with two pairs of wings.

"I see..." He nodded as he tried to examine my status.

"I have never seen you before. Which kingdom sent you?"

"My name is Berry. I request that a meeting be set up between the Highlander Emperor and I on the noon three days from now."

"Huh? And just who do you think you are? You can't meet him just because you request it. I don't care what you are. We don't welcome outsiders." He eyed me with scorn and suspicion. 

Patience! Lots of patience! Otherwise, this place would disappear. Think of a solution, quick!

Just then, I remembered I had yet to return an official seal back to Vera. Not only that, Kanoko had entrusted me with her seal of passage. Perhaps she had foreseen this turn of event. Actually, I also kept those colored cards from back when I was still a scout.

I promptly took those official three credentials out of my subspace storage and displayed it before the unnamed official before me. Along with all that was the letter I wrote on the way here, properly stamped and sealed by yours truly.

I nonchalantly told him. "Tell you what, it's urgent."

Meanwhile, he was taking his sweet time scrutinizing everything I had shown him.

Suddenly, his attitude suddenly shifted from that of suspicion to complete outrage. "Kuu... Forgery! To think you'd try lowly illusions to fool me? This is a felony, punishable by death!"

Incompetent fool!! Maybe I should have asked Kanoko to come along. But still, I feel bad pulling her out of retirement so soon for something so simple...

My mood is all ruined if it wasn't bad enough after that mess in Rotask. Why... Don't tell me this fellow is part of a demonic cult? I'm tired of this stuff. Maybe when I get the chance, I should just remake the world...

"Are you done?"

My face turned expressionless.

I gave up.

It seemed that none of my negotiations would go smoothly if I didn't at first show my power.

Here at the Imperial palace, nobody knew me. I was a nobody, basically. I understood that. But to think that I would keep encountering arrogant individuals who stood in positions of power, these must be coincidences.

Maybe I was simply being unreasonable. I hoped that wasn't the case.

In front of the gate of the Imperial Palace of the Highlander Emperor, I boldly declared, "The letter is in your hands. Pass on the message. The Mediator will return in three days."

With that said, I took my leave. Whether he passed on that passage to the emperor or not was not my problem. I knew how to find the emperor anyway. It was only a matter of courtesy.

Now that I knew my credentials from Vera were useless, I returned them to Kanoko's office and left a note for Kanoko's successor. The only thing I kept was the green card that kept track of my money within the empire. Aside from that, I had basically just severed my tie with the Kingdom of Teir.