One Week Later
After setting the time to be exactly 6:00 PM and sending the Beholders to the other dukes to remind them, I yawned and looked at the clock. It was still the morning, so there was plenty of time to get ready. I scratched my hair and looked at the mirror
and nearly fainted from shock. I was known to be a perfectionist, but not sleeping for a week had made me look like a
prisoner.
Because of lack of attention lately, the curls in my hair defied my will and acted as a spring, and I had a dark-circle around my eye from the lack of sleep during the last week. I quickly stormed into the bathroom and took a shower, used some powder to hide the dark-circle, and straightened my hair. Then I spent some time cleaning the desks.
When the time for the meeting finally arrived, I looked again at my blue-print that I took the last 4-5 hours checking over. It wasnt perfect, but it had met every single specification by Mammon.
If I was going to glide it anyways, I decided to make the primary colors of the interior of the castle the similar. Instead of black, dark colors I decided to make it more royal red, so all the carpets were red. The secret passages were strategically placed where the Lords room was, at each of the dukes mansions, and at the Library. There were also many entertainment and military installations throughout the castle and I also planned a giant hall for festivals.
The walls were to be constructed of Amantium (metal used by the gods) which would disrupt the mana flow around it to be immune of magic attack, and since if I used only pure gold for the exterior bricks, I used an special alloy of gold, mithril, and a trace amount of Aurihalcon (another metal of gods).
Where in the world did we get this much Aurihalcon? We raided the warehouse at Heaven thats how.
As much as I enjoyed looking at my Blue-print, it was near the meeting time and arrived five minutes early to it.
As expected, none of the other dukes were early.
After what seemed to be an eternity, none of the dukes came. I was intrigued and checked the clock again
and almost yelled ****!! out loud. I had foreseen their lazyness and had set the time to be 6:00 PM. It was 6:30 now and NONE of the dukes came.
I felt something snap within me, and sent another batch of Beholders to the other dukes. Of course the message now contained much threatening, but I couldnt care less, as long as it worked.
Now how many minutes was that
About two hours later, Leviata and Belius slowly ambled their way into the meeting room, and Kashimus and Hastur brightly brisked in 30 minutes later with a clear expression on their face that clearly showed annoyance
. That
was okay
. as long as everyone was here
but
there was a problem. Glustis and Ashtar did not come no matter how long I waited.
Hey, what happened to Glustis?
Havent you heard, he got a stomachache.
WHAT.
Beliuss reply that Glustis did not make it because of a stomachache took me by surprise.
How did
What the heck did he eat now?
What was it
oh yeah, he got annoyed because he was hungry and went off to swallow a 15-foot tall ogre, raw.
..
I stood dumbly, I could feel something burning inside, but I faced Belius again and asked about Ashtar.
and Ashtar?
he said he was coming after he took a nap.
A..what?
a nap.
One duke did not come because he ate an giant monster, and other could not come because of his hobby(?). I could imagine the angels laughing at us as we speak. It was a mistake from the beginning to use these idiots, I could have done it alone, but those morons, instead if helping, seemed to increase my work-load by 10 folds.
I sighed and wagered my entire wealth to myself that if I had done it alone, I would have done it at the exact same time, if not faster. I even wagered my body on top of it. I briefly wondered why one could not take back spilled water, and called my secretary, Hartia.
Less then 1 minute later, Hartia appeared and I gazed at her. She was an Elite, female demon, extremely competent in her work. She had hair-color that was similar to wine, and had blood-red colored pupils and was very friendly with me lately. She knelt beside me.
Mr. Neviross, I believe that you summoned me, said Hartia.
I want you to bring Glustis and Ashutar here.
Sir? They are dukes, how could I..
This task was given to me, so you can play rough. Feed Glustis some pills, and for Ashutar, you may use any method available. Break a bone
. Or TWO.
Hartia nodded.
Then I shall need a brick. Replied Hartia.
Huh? Oh sure.
Hartia picked up one of the golden bricks for the exterior of the castle and teleported away. Why did she take the brick? I wondered. Is she going to chuck it at them to knock them out, or is she going to take those two apart with it
There was a reason why I was wondering this. Hartia, even from the small number of Elite demons, she was a bit
unorthodox in the way she handled things. She would complete a mission without failure, but one could be sure that, whenever she completed a mission, somebody was a bleeding hulk on the ground. Well, not that I care. As long as she brought them her, I didnt give a damn if she ground the two together in a large Juico-Matic.
Less than 30 minutes later, Hartia teleported back, dragging two figures behind her. Glustis was still clutching his stomach, and Ashutar was bleeding profusely from the head
I could understand Glustis, but I wondered what happened to Ashutar. While I was blinking, Ashutar suddenly got up and lunged for my throat.
JUST TELL ME IF YOUR ANGRY WITH ME!!!! yelled Ashutar.
What the.. What did Hartia do?
Ashutar pointed at his head which looked like it had been struck with a rock at least 6 times and yelled
WHEN I SAID THAT I WOUDNT GO SHE HIT ME IN THE HEAD WITH THE DAMN BRICK!!
That was how I came to discover the new use for bricks, use it to hit people. I looked at Hartia and there the brick was, although it was now tinted red with
So it was true. I turned back to Ashutar.
What can I say? You did not come to the meeting. You cant die anyways
just sit there.
Ashutar slowly let go of my throat and walked over to his seat, although he kept glaring at Hartia. Hartia of course smiled at me as if trying to say I did well, didnt I? and I petted her head good job. This must be the reason why I like Hartia, Unorthodox, but effective as hell.
Now since we are done with the intro, let us move on to the real reason we are here.
I gave the orders to Hartia and she collected the blue-prints from each and every one of the dukes. I was happy that I had even managed to collect it from them. I put the anger aside and picked up one of the blue-prints at random.
Since there were the dukes seal on every blue-print, it was easy to tell whose it was. It was Glustiss. I carefully opened it, hoping that there was at least one good ide
. Never mind.
The blue-print was completely illegible, written in babys hand-writing, and seemed to have been drawn by teeth.
Then I noticed the back side, I hoped that it was the real blue-print and turned it over. That moment, I felt my entire body go stiff. Seemed to have noticed something from my cold stance, I sensed Hartia grow nervous.
Ma
My liege, a problem?
Hartia, come closer.
Hartia trotted uncertainly closer. I slowly gave her the blue-print and pointed at a sentence.
What does it say?
.Do I really have to..
Hartia frowned at me. I nodded and she was in a state of panic for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and said.
GIVE.ME.FOOD.
I swear it is.
I gave him double-sided paper and he only wrote Give Me Food on it? I felt my mind go burning white with rage. The other dukes grew stiff as well. Hastur as an exception. He only chuckled.
He must have been very hungry Hastur chuckled.
The fact that Glustis was technically my superior suddenly pressed down on me. I wished that anyone could be his superior but him
I was extremely embarrassed at myself at was suddenly felt bleak at this worlds outlook. Glustis just smiled like an idiot and was making an excuse, primarily saying sorry, was too hungry. I was already in a bad mood and looking at that smile suddenly made me twisted.
Drag that waste out of here.
Hartia immediately rushed into action, grabbed Glustis, and proceeded to chuck him out the window, only hampered by the fact that most of the windows were already broken, and the only unbroken window was located at the far side of the room. The scream slowly died away, ended by a soft thud, and there immediately was a very heavy silence. Amidst it, I proceeded to open Beliuss blue-print, hoping that it wasnt just comprised of some words and.. Oh My Mammon what the
I wished that it wasnt comprised of some big letters and it was written in microscopic letter, similar to a letter.
Oh, wait, it was a letter.
It was written there, at the end of the letter, in a very cute way
I LOVE YOU.
I blinked and stared at Belius. I wondered why he had been giving me the looks. I am a man and obviously not a teenager either, but he was enjoying looking at me for some reason. And then I knew it. Belius did not care about whatever the sex was, he did not even care about age. He just loved anyone
I suddenly understood why Hastur had been avoiding him.
Drag Him out too!
Hartia immediately proceeded to wrench Beliuss neck and bring him down to the floor with a sickening snap, a bit roughly than what was needed. She then threw him out the window. I sighed and thought that it would be better if everything just ended like this and picked up Ashutar and Leviatas blue-print. Well, at least it was normal blue-print and not a request for food nor a love-letter.
Finally, I sighed.
I briefly glanced at Ashutars design of the castle walls. He had a clever idea of absorbing the attack rather than deflecting it. So in his design, the walls would defend and absorb the enemys mana so that it can be used in other places. If we could use the enemies energy against them, it would raise our chance for victory
He also had an idea of making teleportation circles instead of secret passages. That was good, the problem was the additional request.
The more bedrooms the better
.
After mumbling that, I ground my teeth together with such force that I half-expected that everyone in the city could hear it. I smiled brightly at Ashutar.
Hey you whoreson, I want you to bash your head against the floor.
Ashutar had a defiant composure, but one look at my face suddenly changed his mind, and started to bash his head against the floor. I wanted to hit him a thousand times with a wooden stick, but thought that that would tire me out more. I opened the Leviatas blue-print and found my blood-pressure rising to the top.
I see that you thought that Lord Mammon would be pleased if you built the castle in the SHAPE OF A RABBIT.
. Its cute.
I felt my forehead. I could swear I got a burn from it. I waved at Hartia.
You see that bag over there? Put that thing in it and recycle her.
That was it, Hartia mercilessly grabbed Leviata and shoved her into the bag. She then dragged the bag out of the room like a proud kidnapper. I could hear her screams, but that did not matter. I felt my forehead again and grabbed Kashimuss blue-print, and Kashimus suddenly stared at me.
Stop, I will bash my head in my own initiative.
.
Kashimus bashed his head against the floor with such force that the tower shook. I stared at his bleeding hulk on the ground and wondered what was in the blue-print any ways. I looked at the blue-print and there were 2 words written in cursive.
NO IDEA
..
I shoved my head against the blue-print. Hartia stared sadly at my sad hulk, and Hastur laughed maniacally and was banging on the table as if he could find something amusing in the whole mess. I stared at Hasturs blue-print and was amazed. His blue-print was perfection itself. He had worked out the angles of the wall, the way the castle would be situated, and the division of the workforce without any miscalculations. He also listed all the installations and also placed a web of secret passages throughout the castle.
As if that wasnt enough, he also placed weapons on the
what the, weapons?
Particle cannons, Nuclear cannons, la
la
.
LASER cannons. Finished Hastur.
Yeah
Laser cannons
What are these
Dangerous things?
As I was mumbling, Hasturs eyes glinted and he raised his head in pride.
It is my philosophy that a castle should not stop with defense!! It is my design that the castle can move anywhere with sufficient power source. Look!! IT HAS LEGS!!! LEGS!!!!!!!!!!!
It is small.. but
I felt my spirit slipping away at Hasturs explanations.
And this is Nuclear cannon, it utilizes the power of nuclear energy to harness awesome powers!!! Well Nuclear bombs are okay too, and look! SEE! Look at those wings! The whole castle can lift up and become a flying fortress!!!!!
Hey Hastur?
Huh?
Why
the hell is there a self-destruct button on the castle?
Before I could ask that, Hastur clutched my mouth.
Shh! Someone may get hurt if anyone else knows.
.
After what seemed like an eternity, I rolled up Hasturs blueprint. It was useful, so there was no harm taking it. Hastur laughed maniacally and grabbed my blueprint without permission and let out a whistle.
Cool castle you have here, although it lacks weapons.
Who puts weapons and a self-destruct buttons in a castle? He is dangerous
I ignored his laughter and waved for Hartia.
Put that psycho in a cage; lock him up, and place do not feed the animal sign on it.
I walked out of the meeting place. Few seconds later, Hasturs scream emanated throughout the city. Ignore it, he wont die anyways.
And so the castle was completed safely (?). Mammon was satisfied by the castles complexity and usefulness and this castle, christened Pandemonium, had survived the Godswar without a scratch. Perhaps the most satisfactory of all was that we did not put Hasturs SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON.
. Its a shame.
.
I took a step away from Hastur.
Such a shame
It was a rare occasion in which I felt fear.
I know not to read the things gods post unless they say "Task" or "Challenge" or something tso I know what to do.
to make up for that crap of a conclusion I translated.
