The Runic Alchemist
Chapter 723 - 723: First Queen of Malveria

"You will have to leave this island," the Elf Queen said to the lady demon. "What is your name?"

"Lazrin Halek, First Queen of Malveria."

"This place will be vacated by the demon-kin, and you shall all be placed in a new land which even we have no idea how to reach. The Keeper here will take all your people there," the Emperor said with a strict tone. The guy was quite a chill dude—as long as demons were not involved.

"There won't be any restrictions placed on your people—you can start a new life there. We will not interfere with whatever it is that happens to you, even after all the damage your people have caused in our land. The past of your kind was hidden from us—because of our ancestors' mistakes, we are letting you go without demanding any reparations," the Elf Queen said. Her tone was not so nice either.

"But you won't be completely abandoned," Mindseer said—at least she considered the demons as people instead of some creatures from hell. "As you just saw us coming out of a waygate, our Keeper here will install one such thing in this new land as well—with that, you can visit this island, but with strict rules and regulations. This island will be converted into a neutral territory for all kingdoms and powers in this world—if anyone wants to, they can trade with your representatives. No hidden deals though—all will happen right in front of all representatives of all powers." Chаptеr prоvidеd viа МVLЕМРYR.

"Anything you want to say to all that?" Sam asked.

Lazrin Halek heard it all with a singular expression—it was hard to say what she was thinking, but it didn't really matter much. It was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. At last, she asked,

"What about the others who won't obey my command?"

Damian replied, "You are the only Transcendent here—all the soldiers and Transcendants gone from here are never returning. Unite them, punish them—do whatever you want. When I find this new place, all of you will leave. Those who won't will either be thrown into the waygate or into the ocean."

"How are we to start a new life in a strange land with no resources at all?" Lazrin asked back.

"You can take all that you can carry from this place. For other things, you can try asking nicely in exchange for something good," he replied.

"Okay, I will take all with me who can see the sense."

"We will send back all the Shadowborne now—it will take some time for me to find a place for you all. Do whatever you can till then."

"Can you.. Hm, never mind." Lazrin was about to say something, but seeing the piercing gazes of the people gathered there, she did not feel it wise to test her luck.

"What? Just say it.." Damian asked.

"All of those left because the mainland had more opportunities for survival than Malveria. We don't have enough food to sustain all of them. They all had volunteered to go, some even sacrificed themselves so their family members could live here in peace," she revealed.

The two rulers looked at each other, then at Damian. They both could have offered the reserves they had in exchange for something, but growing food was not something done by magic. No kingdom ever had enough—especially after such a long war.

Damian had to tackle this one too. "Will monster meat work for you?"

"Monster meat?" Lazrin murmured. "How much can you spare?"

"I won't be giving you any," Damian cleared the misunderstanding. "But I can give you access to all the dungeons present underwater from here to the Mainland. You give me full reports on each monster, appropriate monster materials and mana stones, dungeon relics—and you can keep the monster meat."

Everyone present there had their eyes wide open. That was basically him saying work for me and you shall be rewarded. Not only demons—any lord or lady in charge of a region would jump at the chance of leveling up for free with minor risk to their manpower.

"You want us to die for you and make you rich?" Lazrin eyed him.

She knew very well she could not defeat him—still she was trying to act like she didn't like the deal, at the risk of offending him, because she had a hope he would probably offer a better deal. For her to do this—it showed she had a little faith in him. Guess not all his words from before had scattered in the wind.

"You can keep 20% of what you bring back. Spatial storages will be given on entry and taken away on exit. After checking all the items, you can claim your 20% when the team gives me a full report of their exploration. And do not play me, lady—the only reason I am offering this is because of your courage to speak up for your people."

The demoness raised her eyebrows in surprise, then a small smile formed on her pretty face. She quickly regained her composure though and replied while bending her head a little,

"I will accept the offer then, Lord Keeper."

Damian simply nodded. Then looked at the two rulers and Mindseer; they too nodded. A first-ever deal with the demons, and he had done it right in front of them.

He formed a waygate and they went back to the old Empire. Now that Damian had IDs of enough trees and people of Lamveria, going to the island was no big deal. They instructed Lazrin to get ready for the people they would send—then half a day Damian spent in opening massive waygates in all cities and pushing the Shadowborne inside.

Most accepted going back easily. Now that their leaders were gone, they knew what their fate would be—some who refused were thrown inside forcefully. Some who had killed other demons and tried to do the wrong things in the chaotic situation were beheaded right then and there. The ones who had tried to do just theft and lower crimes were put aside and sent to the island, instructing the Demon Queen to put them first in line for dungeon exploration.