RD 4 Ch 23

Reorganizing our little fortress in Vein City took longer than I had expected, and it certainly didn't help that demons steadily flowed in from the hell gate in the distance, forcing us to maintain a constant rotation of people to whittle away at the demons spawning both in the tower and in the city.

Even then, we almost had too many people, yet not enough capable hands. Our recruitment efforts in Vein City doubled and then redoubled as our presence within the city grew.

In fact, every time I swept in to handle the situation, I was nearly mobbed by the Mul Branova and those joining the Nesters. I had become uncomfortably famous in the city. Instead of dealing with everything, more often than not, Simone and Gloria shooed me out to run instances with the newest batch. All of them were starry-eyed as they watched me cleave through very easy monsters.

Green recruits were nothing new, but these people worshiped me and it even showed the growth as Worshipped finally hit B rank.

I had once been known as the Wandering King, where I could come and go before people often realized who I even was. Now I was stuck with my adoring fans most days. I was going to need to find coping mechanisms.

Somehow, despite global trade ground to a halt, the Mul Branova had begun walking around in attire similar to Simone's, making the whole group look like some sort of clergy. I have no idea where they got it all. Simone favored black and white, which made her look like a nun. The others had begun to adopt a uniform that was red and white. Whenever they saw me, they flashed brilliant smiles, either getting so excited that they couldn't speak, or feeling the need to dip their heads in some sort of reverent worship.

As soon as I had a moment to get out of the fortress, I took the opportunity.

"Single file. We're heading back to the Citadel of Blood," one of the Mul Branova spoke before I could say anything.

I gave her a tight-lipped smile, doing my best not to show any irritation at the use of that name.

She'd probably be excommunicated from her friend group if any of them thought she had made me angry. 

Really, it was just a fortress. Citadel of Blood made it sound like some kind of super villain hangout. But something told me I was about to be stuck with that name.

As we moved, I spotted a few roving demons. However, our group was large enough that the demons quickly backed off. And as usually, they turned and ran, likely to go report our location.

A Bloodiron Blade appeared in my hand, and two flicks of my wrist sent two crescents of blood that killed the demons before they could scamper away. 

"Lord Bran, you are so incredible," one of the Mul Branova gushed, her eyes bright enough she could probably illuminate the night with them.

I flashed her a smile. "Thank you, but it isn't me who's incredible. It's all of you. You needed a fair amount of courage to work yourself through that instance." I offered.

"At least we have the best starting class there is," another batted her lashes at me. 

"Oh, is that what you guys consider the best?" Another one of them scoffed before glancing at me before her face drained of blood, going completely pale. "I'm sorry, that was rude, Lord Bran. I didn't mean it like that. It’s just SS and there are SSS classes. I know this one is…"

I waved a hand to get her to stop the rambling apology. "It's fine. Any class can learn and grow stronger. Right now, the main focus for everybody should be survival and growth."

All of the ladies nodded along as if they had been fed this information repeatedly.

"Exactly," another echoed. "It is because of Lord Brian's gifts that we are having a much higher survival rate than the rest of the world." 

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me people are still podcasting." I squinted, not sure if I could use it as a verb.

However, the ladies nodded along, with one even taking out her phone. "Oh my gosh, yes. Don't you know? Even the Mul Branova have a channel," she bit her lip. "We took a few videos while we were in the instance. That's okay, right? If not, we'll delete them right now," she hurriedly reassured me. 

I wanted to tell them to delete it, but I held myself back. Simone had likely requested the videos, and I tried to let her run her own operation. The Saintess has big plans to continue to promote the Mul Branova, and I had to admit, she was doing a good job building an army that could defend humanity.

"Though I hear pretty much everyone has chosen a class at this point, are we still even able to get new devotees?" another hesitated.

"Except for all of those that are going to start coming of age." A Mul Branova gestured vaguely into the air. "Hundreds of people have their birthdays every day. And if all it takes is bowing and offering a few prayers to Bran to get one of the strongest classes in the world, of course they're going to take that opportunity." Everyone bobbed their heads in agreement. 

"And this is the plan?" I asked cautiously. 

"Of course, everyone wants the rarest and best skills. The Mul Branova is SS, highly defensive. Meanwhile, there's all sorts of tutorials going around on how to get some basic skills like archery, swordsmanship, and all of that started." 

At this point, more than half of the group had a phone out. I was squinting at the devices. "Aren't those going to fail soon?" I hesitated, worried I would upset them. 

"Not a chance. Because a lot of towers are taking down, they're switching a lot of the communication to satellites. It's like a big project. And they're really limiting how much bandwidth anybody can take" another added. "Forums have popped up to help everybody. It’s all available. The only trick is that half of the influencers are trying to get people to join one of the many armies." 

Another rolled her eyes with a scoff of disgust. "As if one of the Mul Branovas would work for anyone other than Bran and the Saintess." 

This was perhaps one of the strangest conversations I'd listened to in my life. And so I just kept a smile plastered on my face while I continued to gossip about the changes and I wondered what videos they had snapped while we were in the instance.

Was I the star of it, or were they handing out general advice on their own trainings?

I'd been paying more attention to keeping them alive than watching out for them taking videos. I did worry it would distract them from survival, but for now I would leave it in Simone’s very capable hands.

It seems the global communication infrastructure was dying far slower than I remembered. Then again, by protecting Vein City, had I just stopped it from being cut off from the changes?

The group moved quickly, even at what seemed to be a casual walk. The lowest level in this group was now level 33, making their walking far faster than a normal pace. We cleared our way back to the fortress with relative ease. Only two packs of monsters gave us any trouble, and me stepping forwards scared most of them off. 

"My lord," a voice shouted as we walked up to the main gate. Before it could open, a figure launched herself from the wall and landed in front of me. 

"Is everything alright?" I asked as Myra landed. Myra was three women in one, my maids having earned the ability to merge their three bodies and bloodlines together. During our adventure into the vault, it was a strange ability, but the three of them tended to travel around as one anyway.

Myra seemed to be the brains of the operation and they were going by her name when fused. It was a strange thing, but I’d seen stranger. At least, they were strong now that they had essentially pooled their stats and even formed a new Horned Gryphon bloodline.

They only split up from time to time, like when they needed more hands to take care of what I needed. I had grown used to having helpers in my past life. It wasn’t uncommon for people to attach themselves to someone stronger for protection.

"Nothing's wrong. Lady Merlin has returned and we told her that you were looking for her." Myra offered, pulling back her multi-colored hair.

"Oh yes," I said, my eyes lighting up. "With Merlin back, I would be able to actually leave here. Perhaps I can crush some more demons." I perked up.

“She also returned with Lady Circe, who has more information about what was happening around the world.” Myra reported.

"Great.” I nodded. "Well then, by all means, lead me to them." I glanced over at the group of Mul Branova that I had taken through the instance several times today. "And ladies, best of luck with your endeavors and your… videos." I hesitated. 

"Thank you, Lord Bran," they all said loudly with a sweet smile on their faces and waved me goodbye. The second I got out of earshot, it didn't escape my notice that they all collapsed into a tight mob that I had no doubt was about to be filled with gossipy chatter. 

"They all adore you," Myra said, leading me with a smug smile.

“Frankly, I could do with a little less worship. It makes me slightly uncomfortable.” I told her.

It was one thing to have people's hopes for survival resting on my shoulders when I was wielding a sword and fighting on a battlefield to save their city, village, or fortress. It was a very different feeling to have people praise me for being me. Not to mention the indoctrination vibes made me really uncomfortable. I had flaws just like anybody else.

Myra quickly led me through the fortress up to a large meeting room that the leaders of both the Mul Branova and the Nestors often occupied. There were a few desks inside as well as a handful of couches, all surrounding a long knee-high table.

People had sheaths of paper and stubbornly clung to their pens. Now that no more would be made, borrowing and not returning a pen was nearly a high crime.

"Bran," Circe smiled and stood as I entered.

Myra bowed to me and stepped away. Given her usual habits, I had a feeling I'd wind up with a tray of some sort of food in a moment.

"Circe," I greeted her and stepped forward to give her a hug.

"Glad to see you made it while we were gone.” Circe pat me on the back.

"You too. Well," I pulled away and grabbed her by the shoulders to get a good look at her. "Still whole." 

She giggled. "Still whole and just as beautiful." She winked her ruby red eyes at me before escaping my grasp and sliding over to the couch.

Again with the flirting, but she didn’t mean anything by it, I was sure of it. She was just a flirt.

"Merlin brought me back based on how insistent your servant was that she return. Something about you looking all over for her?” Circe pushed.

“Both of you, actually. The gate guardian outside the city needs to go and we can trim back that gate’s forces as well. After that, I'd like to get back to Europe and make sure those blood demons are appropriately squished out." I answered.

Circe nodded along. "Are we going to go to the SSS instance that you mentioned appearing at the Horn of Africa?" 

"Possibly," I said, taking a seat as the couch groaned under my weight. All of the furniture in this area had metal frames. And I had no idea who had made or brought these here, but I was thankful that they were strong. A few I had also enchanted to hopefully help them hold up even longer.

Circe hummed and a glass of water appeared out of her spatial ring, followed by a few more she offered to Merlin and I.

"I will say, Bran, several events appear not to be the same as what you indicated in the journal you gave Hercules and Zeus. As you can imagine, they're quite upset with those anomalies." She told me. 

I could only shrug, showing her my palms. "The timelines are going to deviate, especially with the different response at the beginning of the Hell Gates this time. What differences in particular?" I leaned forward, genuinely curious.

"Well, I would expect some differences in Europe and here, however, it was bigger than that. The Demon Lord has already appeared in Africa." Circe told me.

My eyes went hard, my brain stopping and focusing solely on that information. "How bad?"

"Not as bad as it could have been." Circe scowled, but the scowl wasn't directed at me. "The Ennead clan managed to send enough forces down to spook him away. However, the damage was already done." She grimaced, taking a folio and a manila folder out of her spatial ring, and placed it on the table between us. She flipped it open. "These were two that you said were the heroes of the First War, ones that you protected in the vault?" 

I grimaced, already knowing where she was going. "They're dead?" 

Her lips were tight. "Worse. Captured. By all accounts the Demon Lord personally sought them out."

My frown deepened.

At this time, the Demon Lord shouldn't be that powerful. He was secretly running one of the world's strongest hidden sects and had amassed significant personal strength. However, without the Hell Gate from Tartarus, his forces should be far more limited. 

"Anything different about it?" I said after a second, unsure of what to ask. 

"It was clear he came straight for these targets. Small, elite force led by him. They killed anyone else below level 100, only took the elites and disappeared. That, or the Ennead's response, scared him off."

My brain was swirling. Something wasn't right about this news. "This is wrong. In my prior life, he was all about large armies swarming over swaths of land, scouring any human he could get. He was never this," I gestured at the manila folder, "tactical. Maybe something spooked him, and he thinks he has to be a little more careful." 

Circe shrugged and closed the folder. There were several other faces in the folder, but apparently they weren't important enough. "He also had a small clash with the Borrson clan long enough to draw away a sizable amount of force from the north. They vanished before the Borrson was able to get their elites tracking them.” Circe looked down at the table. "We're not entirely sure how he's traveling so quickly." 

"He has an ability to create gateways from place to place," I said, "at least he did when he became more active in my past life. It can't transport much, but it sounds to me like without his hidden hell gate, and without wanting to expose Heaven's Fist for what they are, he's trying to draw in resources and create strong groups of demons." I rubbed my chin. "Which means the clan should do some outreach and get more cooperation from the stronger members of the Free Player Alliance. That is, if we want to protect them and deny the Demon Lord even more valuable hosts."

Something else about this was bothering me.

Circe grimaced, as did Merlin before I could think too hard on it.

It was the wizard that spoke up. "The FPA and the clans do not play well together." Merlin shook her head. "What you're asking is impossible. The clans tried to force far too many of those in the alliance to bend the knee and get merged into the clans. Every fifty to hundred years, there's a conflict between the two, and I don't know if the apocalypse is going to be enough to mend the animosity that’s been created." 

"Doesn't help with how aggressive the Borrsons are becoming," Circe glanced in my direction. "Vidar is looking for you and making a bit of a mess in the process." 

"I'm sure he is," I cocked her a bright smile, "when I'm ready, I'll find him."