NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60 : Back to Azaroth
Arclens City, July 7th, 756
In a room, Arshald is currently engrossed in reading through all the documents relating to the events of a week ago: the appearance of a giant monster in the middle of the city. He appears to be meticulously examining every document.
"The casualty count: 957 Knights and 2786 civilians,"
After reading the report, Arshald rubs his forehead as the death toll is significant and quite substantial.
"Each deceased victim should receive compensation of 1 gold coin per person and an annual allowance of 50 silver coins, depending on the length of their service, calculated by doubling the length of their service,"
"For example, if someone served as a Knight for 5 years and died, they would receive an allowance for 10 years,"
For the past few days, Arshald has also been trying to recall what happened before he blacked out but to no avail. Arshald only sees that all the Knights he brought to fight someone have been killed.
"Last week's incident was truly devastating," Arshald muttered.
Arshald continues reading the report, detailing the losses and damages resulting from the incident a week ago.
"The estimated losses are 789 gold coins and 567 silver coins, with 154 residential homes destroyed, and around 3,400 people displaced,"
"In the damaged areas, undead occasionally appear randomly, making it uninhabitable for residents,"
"The city's damages will be fully borne by the new Marquess, and the deaths and soldier benefits will be covered by the Empire,"
"Princess Ivy also immediately assisted in the form of necessities such as food, drinks, blankets, and others,"
In this world, the highest currency is platinum coins, with the following conversion rates:
1 Platinum Coin: 1,000 Gold Coins
1 Gold Coin: 1,000 Silver Coins
1 Silver Coin: 100 Copper Coins
Shortly after, a Knight forcefully opens Arshald's room door, causing Arshald to feel extremely irritated by the Knight's lack of manners.
"Apologies, Arshald-sama, all the Knight and civilian corpses to be buried today have disappeared,"
This naturally shocks Arshald to the core, prompting him to immediately stand up and slam the table hard.
"Disappeared, you say!?"
"Yes! Follow me!"
Arshald and the Knight then leave the room.
======================
At the same time, Alice is currently sound asleep after soaking in hot water for quite some time, even to the point where her drool drips onto the bed, indicating that Alice's sleep is truly deep.
As it's nearing noon, Alice slowly begins to open her eyes and sits up on the bed, rubbing her eyes and occasionally yawning.
"Where am I???" Alice exclaimed.
Since reincarnating into this world, this is the first time Alice has slept so deeply. Although Alice's body cannot feel fatigue, she can sense mental exhaustion.
Alice looks around and realizes that this is her room.
In Alice's room, there's only candlelight and a fairly large window behind her bed. However, the window can only be seen from inside the room, and from the outside, it appears to vanish.
Alice's bed is also very large, enough to accommodate five people, and made of high-quality silk that is very smooth and plush. There are several wardrobes and bookshelves in Alice's room, as well as a mirror and a vanity table.
Of course, Alice never uses the vanity table, it's just for decoration so her room doesn't feel empty.
"Oh, my room...." Alice murmured.
Alice then starts stretching her entire body to avoid stiffness. Shortly after, someone knocks on Alice's room door.
"Excuse me, Alice-sama," someone from outside the room says.
"Yes? Please come in," Alice says.
An undead enters Alice's room and immediately kneels with their head bowed. These undead have skeletal bodies like skeletons, but their teeth are very sharp, and they even have sharp fangs on both sides of their cheeks.
The eye sockets of these undead creatures glow with a fiery red, and their attire looks very regal.
They wear cloaks with patterns and golden edges, and there are floating chains swirling around their bodies.
They also appear to float and not touch the floor, and the bony fingers of these undead creatures look like long, sharp claws.
"Ancient Lich, Ivara, isn't it?" Alice inquired.
"It's an honor that you remember my name, Alice-sama," Ivara replied.
"Raise your head, so what's the matter?" Alice asked.
"We have prepared breakfast for Alice-sama, with liches and demons who are top-class chefs cooking for Alice-sama,"
"Oh, so there are liches who are top-class chefs?"
"I just learned about this."
"Alright, lead the way," said Alice.
"As you wish, Alice-sama,"
Ivara then rose to his feet, and Alice immediately leaped from her bed. They then walked towards the dining room. As they walked, Alice decided to ask Ivara some questions.
"How is Azaroth's condition when I'm not around?" Alice asked.
"Azaroth's condition is fine, and of course, very safe, especially with Alicia-sama here, and Alicia-sama's power is undoubtedly capable of truly protecting Azaroth," Ivara answered Alice's question.
"And how is the construction of Azaroth?"
"Everything is going smoothly, and the construction is already completed,"
"Good, are there any other people guarding Azaroth besides the liches, construction workers, troops, and Alicia?"
"Yes, two other demon commanders, Mammon and Gluttony, are guarding Azaroth," Ivara answered.
"I see...."
(Sorry, everyone, I have to use the guild's assets you've entrusted to me.)
"What about the bodies from the Arclens City incident?"
"Yes, as per Alice-sama's orders, Beelzebub and Behemoth, along with other subordinates, have collected everything without causing a riot or additional loss of life,"
"Good, we'll create more undead troops,"
"Yes, we can increase our strength,"
After walking for a few minutes, Alice then arrived in front of a room which was the dining room. Ivara then opened the door, and the dining room appeared very spacious. There was a long table that was very beautiful because it was made of various gems and white diamonds.
Not forgetting, next to the dining table, there were many luxurious white chairs with red cushions, and on the right side of the room, there were many very large windows.
In the room, there were also various kinds of food already prepared, and several undead and demons in neat attire were seen preparing all this food. One demon also seemed to be carrying a fairly large mirror.
Of course, everyone in the room immediately knelt upon seeing Alice's arrival.
"Please rise," said Alice.
Everyone then stood up after hearing Alice's words, also raising their right hands and placing them in front of their left shoulders while bowing as a sign of respect.
Alice then sat in a large chair at the end of the dining table, and an undead then brought a white cloth that was immediately placed around Alice's neck. Alice was truly treated like a highly respected emperor.
"Um, place the mirror in front of me," said Alice.
"I understand," said a demon servant.
The demon immediately placed the large mirror in front of Alice, and the mirror then floated. In her previous life, Alice used to eat while watching something she found exciting and enjoyable.
Since this world didn't have devices like televisions, computers, or cell phones, Alice used a mirror as her entertainment. The mirror was like a CCTV because it could display real-time events in multiple places.
The mirror then displayed the situation around Azaroth as Alice desired. Alice also began to gaze at the abundance of food; here, bread and rice were also provided as the main dishes. Alice could choose one, and Alice chose rice.
In short, at this moment, Alice began to eat while looking at the fairly large mirror. It appeared that Azaroth was being tightly guarded, with many golems, undead, and demons patrolling. Azaroth was now not just a tower, but a castle, complete with a large gate.
Everything was tightly guarded by high-level creatures.
"Does Alice-sama still remember the high-level undead you summoned after defeating the True Abyssal Dragon Lord? Many of them patrol around Azaroth for 24 hours,"
{This event is in Chapter 15}
"Ohhh... I rememberrr,"
While enjoying her meal, Alice also thought that she now resembled a king of a kingdom. Surely, this made Alice have to protect her kingdom as a king, in other words, Alice had to protect Azaroth and all of its subordinates and followers if they wanted to continue enjoying life like this.
The view in the mirror then changed to the location of the goblin village, and it seemed that the goblin village had developed significantly. Even the buildings in the goblin village were now made of sturdy concrete, and many of them had learned how to farm.
"Oh, I didn't expect goblins to be able to farm,"
"Yes, thanks to Aether-sama, they can farm, and Azaroth will continue to supply their food needs until the harvest season arrives, provided that they remain faithful in worshiping Alice-sama," Ivara explained.
"I see...."
"Yes, Alice-sama,"
The view changed again, this time showing the goblins who were breeding livestock; their livestock also seemed to be quite numerous. The view changed again, this time showing the white temple that had changed significantly.
The white temple located in the goblin village appeared to be getting larger, and even in front of the temple, the goblins were constructing a statue of Alice. The undead and golems also appeared to be patrolling around the goblin village as security officers.
While enjoying a lot of food, Alice continued to look around the area around Azaroth from the mirror in front of her until she finished eating. Alice consumed a lot of food, even though her body didn't need food at all.
Even Alice's digestion only reached the stomach, which automatically incinerated all the food that entered Alice's body.
"Ahhh.... Delicious,"
"Thank you for your praise, Alice-sama," said a demon.
Alice then remembered that Exypno, Aether, and Aurelle were currently carrying out Operation: Azaroth Awakening.
"Ivara, contact all the servants, and tell them to gather at Azaroth tonight at seven," said Alice.
"I understand, Alice-sama,"
Alice decided to enjoy her day more relaxed.
At the moment, Alice was on the roof of the Azaroth tower, right in the middle of the Azaroth castle, there was a very large and tall Azaroth tower. The view of the entire forest could be seen from the top of the tower, and Ivara was also behind Alice to accompany her.
"The view this afternoon is quite beautiful,"
"Yes, all this beauty is created just for Alice-sama," said Ivara.
Alice truly felt guilty when she used a hydrogen explosion to fight the True Abyssal Dragon Lord. Although Aether managed to restore its forest, but not its atmosphere, the atmosphere of this forest felt different from before.
Aether not only restored the trees but also various forest ecosystems like some living creatures that Aether summoned with various items from Azaroth.
Before long, a black portal appeared next to Alice, and a beautiful woman appeared from the portal, she was Arina Sirius, Alice's first Servant. Of course, after meeting Alice, Arina immediately knelt and bowed her head.
"I'm back, Alice-sama, and there are many things I want to report," said Arina.
"Welcome back, Arina," said Alice.