Just as the first speaker finished speaking, another man stood up and faced him. "That is not a good idea and you know it," he said to him before turning to their Lord and bowing his head in respect. "My Lord, instead of attacking them that way, I think it is better we send a spy into their midst. That way, we will be able to know everything about them. Having information about our enemies is the best way to deal with them," he said to the Lord.
"Do you know how long it will take us to do that?" The first speaker asked him after he was done speaking. "At this point, if we don't act fast, the so-called new leader will take everything from us and we will be left with nothing!" He said to him.
"I know your worries but we have to be careful—" the second speaker didn't finish speaking and the first one abruptly fell to his knees before their Lord.
"My Lord, I don't mean to incite suspicion among us but his ideas are making me think otherwise. Perhaps he..."
"That's enough!" The Lord ordered him and he abruptly stopped talking. "No one here has the right to suspect anyone, do you understand?" The Lord asked him and he nodded his head though he didn't look happy about it.
"My Lord, I will never betray you. I am merely stating my mind," the second speaker said to the Lord.
"That is enough for now. Ideas are welcomed but we must be careful of what we say here. As for the new leader, I will think of something but for now, you all are dismissed," the Lord said and then dismissed everyone. "Come in!" He said after making sure that everyone else had left the hall.
A figure with their face covered with a mask, and a cloak covering the entire body walked into the hall and stood before the Lord.
"What do you have?" He asked the figure.
"He was a human who was turned into a demon some months ago. That is all I can find out about him," the figure who happened to be a lady replied.
"That isn't enough, I want you to find out every detail about him! How he ended up in the demon realm and what happened after that, I want everything!" The Lord said to her.
"I will do that but what about the cure?" The lady asked him.
"You will get the pill when you complete your task!" The Lord replied.
"But I need the pill tonight," the lady said to him.
"If you won't complete the task I've given you, then get ready to bury her soon!" The Lord replied and waved for her to leave.
Not wanting to leave, the lady stood there, staring at him.
"Go to his place tonight and get me some useful information about him. If you do that, I might have to consider your request," the Lord said and then disappeared from the seat.
"If anything happens to Tilia, I swear I will destroy everything you have worked for!" The lady said and walked out of the hall.
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Back in Alex's mansion, he was sitting on his bed when Emilia walked in with a happy face.
"What is it?" He asked her.
"You successfully gained your first loyal followers, I have to be happy about it," she replied and came to stand close to his bed.
"They are just kids, nothing to be impressed about it," Alex replied and Emilia stopped smiling.
"But still—"
"Now isn't the time to be happy and get carried away by the little success. This is the most crucial time for us because I believe that the ups are already aware of what I am doing and they are beginning to make their move, as such, we have to be ready to welcome them. Do you understand me?"
Emilia lowered her head in embarrassment, why didn't she think of all these before, and now, she had made herself look stupid before him?
"I understand," she replied to him.
"You can go, I need to train," he said and waved her to leave.
"Yes!" She said and then left the room.
After she left, Alex brought out the spell book and began to flip through the pages — He seemed to be looking for something.
'I can't continue to practice non-fighting spells, it won't help me,' he thought as he kept flipping through the pages of the book. After a while, he came across something and stopped. "Falcon-palm?" He mumbled and began to go through the text under it. "I see... If I can learn this skill, I'd be able to injure my opponent with just one strike but there is a downside of it," he said and suddenly frowned. "I can only use it once because it consumes a lot of energy, hmmm," he muttered. "But still..." He sighed and closed his eyes to begin the training.
Falcon-palm is a basic demonic skill that entails damaging one's vitals, it is a simple yet destructive ability because of its damaging output. As a result of this, the user has to use one-third of his energy in the application, so if the user isn't strong enough or doesn't have enough strength to carry out the attack, they will end up being the one affected instead of their opponents but If they are strong enough, they will only have to use it once in a while.
Alex didn't have any combat ability, he only relied on his natural strength which wasn't a good idea so he was bent on learning something new. The falcon-palm though easy seemed complicated but being who he was; a lover of challenges, he wanted to try his luck and see the outcome.
Naturally, it takes one more than months to grasp the full potential of the falcon-palm but for Alex, it didn't take him up to three hours to do it and soon, he was seen exerting raw energy through his palms and it felt like the space before him moved.
But moments after he succeeded in learning the skill, he coughed out a mouthful of blood and fell to the bed, gasping for air.
"This is worse than any other," he muttered out of breath. He lay down in that position for a while and when he felt like he had regained himself, he got up and came down from the bed.
He glanced at his open window and suddenly furrowed his brows, then he left his room and walked to his garden where he stood, looking around.
"I am already aware of your presence, why don't you save us the time and make yourself known?" He spoke out.
As soon as he finished speaking, someone came from behind with the hand outstretched to attack him but he quickly turned around and caught the person's hand.
The attacker gasped and tried to escape but Alex held him firmly and flung him to the wall of his house.
"Attacking me from behind is your grave mistake," he said as he approached the fallen attacker. "Tell me who sent you and I might consider sparing your life," he said to him.
"Never!" The feminine voice replied and sprayed some white powder at Alex who tried to cover his face but before he could realize it, the person was gone.
"Tsk!" Alex clicked his tongue while staring at where the attacker had fallen. His eyes soon caught a golden object on the spot and went near to have a closer look at it. He picked up the object and staring at it closely, he became curious. "A golden feather?" He asked, staring at the shiny golden feather in his hand. He examined it for a while before deciding to go back inside.
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The next morning, Alex woke up and called for a meeting with his new subordinates and after they had gathered in the side hall — A new place Emilia arranged that would be for meetings and any meeting-related matters, Alex came.
"Do you know why I called the three of you here?" He asked, staring at Chase, Kia, and Emilia one after the other.
"No, Master!" They replied and Alex brought out the golden feather.
"Last night, I was attacked by a masked person who seems to me to be a lady. I would have found out her real identity but she escaped, luckily, I found this where she had fallen so I want to know, does any of you have any idea to whom this may belong?"
Chase glanced at Kia who in turn glanced at Emilia, the three of them were silent.
"Neither of you knows? Don't tell me you three are useless," Alex mumbled, sounding a bit disappointed.
"Master, since I am not skillful in fights, I am very good at gathering information about anything. If you give me some time, I promise to gather the information you need," Chase said to Alex.
"How many days do you need?" Alex asked him.
"At most, before noon tomorrow, I will gather everything you need to know about the owner of this feather," Chase replied.
"That is good then," Alex said, sounding relieved. "Here, take it with you," he said and handed the feather to Chase who collected it and began to examine it.
"Master, I think this feather belongs to the rose-gold birds," Chase suddenly said and Emilia turned and glanced at him.
"Didn't the lord exterminate all the descendants of the rose-gold birds more than two decades ago? How come...?" Emilia said and paused as she didn't know what else to say.