Edea: Hero Summoning Conspiracy 228 Foundation

After doing what he needed to do in the palace, Kazuya left the castle with a smile.

Remembering the face Alicia made after hearing his parting words almost made him laugh out loud on the spot.

"Soooooo satisfying! Hahaha!" 

Letting out the words he had been holding onto while inside the palace made him feel so much better. The pressure of all the unexpected events that transpired has recently stressed him out so Alicia setting herself up to be ridiculed was something that improved his mood a great deal.

Familiarizing himself with the situations of his early arrival to Edea had taken some time but even with the effects of the events that he had changed historically. Kazuya had finally begun to see a few paths that he could currently take.

"I wonder if she made her decision yet…" Kazuya thought about Nell.

The unexpected encounter with her at Raizer's shop had solved one of the things that he had been worrying about.

"(Did she think I would look down on her just because she was formerly a slave?)" Kazuya thought about it and remembered that although she was playful and mischievous, the Nell that he knew had pride in being a free spirit.

Her attitude made Kazuya not even consider the truth he found out a few days ago to be the truth. This is also the reason why he had opted to give her a choice.

Even though he would have liked to continue this journey with her, he did not use something like a slave crest to force her into joining his cause.

"From what I know about her… I guess this really would be a gamble for me…" Kazuya shook his head and continued heading for the residence that had been provided by him.

Personally, the choice that he left for Nell to decide was something that left Kazuya a bit indecisive. While he wanted her to be protected from the chaos that would engulf Edea, joining him would also put her in the same danger that made her lose her life in Kazuya's previous life.

While Kazuya had the confidence of dealing with the dangers that would face them in the future, it would be by no means an easy journey. Nell had done well for herself before they met in his previous life so with her capabilities, Kazuya was confident that she would be able to keep herself out of danger if she had kept herself out of it.

The Zweifel kingdom and the church of light would certainly remove any factors that would affect their intentions in a negative way. That was what happened last time and they would not think twice about doing it again. The only reason why they were tolerating the current uncooperative hero was because Kazuya had still given them hopes of cooperation while showing no signs of catching on to their devious plans.

This was why maintaining another identity was crucial for him. An identity that even the most powerful human kingdom and the most influential religion would think twice before offending. The Crimson Mansion was one such entity.

Gathering a number of people that would follow him, and him alone was one of the most essential parts of his plan after coming back to this fantasy-like world. Afterall, this was not like the mangas or comics on earth where one hero could take down armies of enemies by himself.

While holding the title of 'hero from another world', Kazuya was unlike any other person. He got hungry, grew tired, and while he had trained himself even before he had come to Edea, he did not have an unlimited amount of mana.

A creation of his own personal force, a force that would be loyal to him and would follow his orders was something that he deemed to be essential. Although the current people under him at the moment would not even be comparable to the elite guards at the palace, the Kazuya now was not the type of who would recklessly charge into a battle that he knew would have a low or no chance of victory.

"I guess it should be about time to take a few precautions…" Kazuya concentrated his mana.

His hair started growing a bit and a dark cloth that grew from under his clothes covered the lower half of his face.

He touched his face and glanced at his own body to make sure that there were no mistakes before he resumed walking towards the abode that should have contained all of the slaves he had purchased.

While Raizer may have been a very influential merchant in Maynira, he was not as powerful as many of the nobles that held high positions. Therefore, many of them would eventually find out that Raizer was hiding a certain craftsman's identity.

"This may be unneeded caution but… I can never be too careful." He stealthily moved through the streets until he eventually made it to the gates of the mansion he had been presented.

"Halt!" Kazuya immediately got stopped at the gates by two guards that he recognized.

Both of them were two of the eight men he had purchased from Raizer. They wore clothes that were very similar to the regular attire that private guards wore so Kazuya silently gave some praise towards the black hearted merchant in his mind.

"I'm glad to see that even you do not recognize me." Kazuya grinned under the cloth covering his face and activated the owner's crest that gave him the right to command the two of the guards.

The two guards who looked at him suspiciously trembled and immediately changed their attitudes. There had been many people who tried to gather information from them as to who it was that had started to live inside the mansion so they have been very careful.

"M-master…" the two of them tried to kneel but Kazuya controlled the crest to make them unable to do so.

"No need for such formalities. Remember, you are supposed to be merely guards who were hired. Be sure to let the others know so that they may not make the same mistake under public eyes."

"Y-yes!" the younger guard answered enthusiastically and led Kazuya through the gates.

 As soon as the others noticed Kazuya's arrival, the slaves gathered inside the mansion's hall to greet him.

Apart from four who had been chosen to be posted on guard duty, the servants gathered inside the mansion's hall and bowed down to welcome the arrival of the person who they would be serving until they died or were set free.

"What are you two doing?" Kazuya did not pay everyone any attention and walked up to both Nell and Lucia who were at the front of those who had been paying their respects.

*stare* the velvet haired little girl who was now wearing a maid uniform that actually fit her perfectly met with his gaze.

"I already gave the two of you back your freedom. Why are you bowing down like the rest?" Kazuya already knew that he wasn't going to get a straight answer from Lucia so he gave Nell a stern gaze instead.

"Before I answer, I wanted to ask why you removed your hold on us. I believe that bitch Etha did not charge you lightly for the both of us." Nell returned his gaze.

Kazuya looked around and none of the others were surprised by what he just said. It seemed like Nell had already informed them of what he had done.

While he was slightly happy to see that she hadn't left, he could not help but worry since unlike their previous time together, they had not built up a relationship that could have been built on trust.

"Because both of you have done meritorious deeds that deserve it. What I intend on doing is something that is extremely difficult or even impossible for me to accomplish alone. You, Nell and Lucia have just built the foundation of will hopefully let me accomplish the task that I came here to do."

"What is it exactly that you want to do?" This was what bothered Nell the most.

All Kazuya ever said about it was that it was extremely difficult. From how he refers to it, it seemed more than likely that they would be killed before they even came close to achieving it.

"None of you are strong enough nor have gained my trust enough for me to share it with you." Kazuya shook his head sideways.

This time there had been a reaction from them. Even Nell looked at him strangely after hearing what he had to say. Many of them did not believe what they had just heard but did not have the courage to speak what they were thinking.

"Not convinced?" Kazuya grinned.

"Let's go to the training grounds. I will give you a taste of what kind of strength you would need to possess before even thinking about asking me that question again.

.

Chapter end