"T-that is impossible, how could we steal the entire island?"
Deus cuts in, the fact about the existence of the hidden island is already overwhelmed him who just barely adapted to his new environment where no one sane enough to know about common sense.
But as if it was only a trivial matter, his new Queen slipped another jaw-dropping declaration, to steal that mysterious island.
'That's insane'
Is what was described on his charming face.
Gasped!
He heard a loud gasped, Rather than agree, all of his comrades gasped at him in disbelief including the 10 years old devil Queen.
"You, you're not thinking about me moving the whole Island, are you?"
Grizel asked the flinched Deus, hearing his Queen declared to steal the island, he was indeed thinking that she wanted to move the whole Island.
"Huh? No?"
Grizel, Levi, and Lucy walked to the corner of the room hurriedly leaving the confused Deus behind, discussing their shock on his back like the gossiping neighbors.
"Is he for real?"
"My Liege, maybe we picked up the wrong person"
"Yeah, My Lord. He is too innocent, look at his stupefied reaction when you are saying about stealing an island, he thought you will bring the whole- pfft, hahaha that's hilarious"
'Master, seems like this newbie needs basic training about the art of stealing to effectively work for you'
Athena didn't want to be left alone also commenting on Deus, who knows that this bad boy would be as innocent as not knowing what is the meaning of stealing an island, but Grizel only mumbled didn't respond to any of her subordinates.
"He supposed to be that Anonymous genius Craftsman though..."
Ahem!
Deus coughed purposely because he heard their whole discussion. Grizel, Lucy, and, Levi back to their seats.
"I am that Anonymous Craftsman you are talking about"
He affirmed as if denying the suspicious gazes from Grizel, Levi, and Lucy toward him.
Sigh...
Grizel sighed and shifted her eyes to her very first servant, the longest one staying by her side.
"Lucy, explain it to him"
The assassin maid nodded taking the order of her Lord then glance at the frowning red-haired man with a meaningful expression as if looking at a delicate pure soul.
'What is it? Why am I suddenly being treated like a mindless brat?'
Deus was confused, he just said that impossible to steal an island, and now for the first time in his life, he, who played with countless women's hearts and earned the title of Lady-killer was treated like an innocent soul among these people.
"What our Lord means by stealing is the ownership of this island, we will de facto self-proclaimed this hidden island as our territory, and not taking the whole Island and bring it back here like a certain someone thinks, pfft hahaha..."
Lucy couldn't maintain her sympathetic face and burst into a loud laugh together with Levi making the genius looking away in sullen.
Grizel just shook her head looking at the Butler-Maid duo who are taking revenge on teasing their new brother.
"But,..."
Lucy abruptly stopped her laugh and looking towards her Lord that she had served for more than 4 years.
"...I think our Lord is planning to build a hidden empire on that ancient Island"
"..."
The whole room suddenly filled with silence, then...
"Hahahaha"
This time, Grizel was the one who laughs loudly, she was going to say it but was guessed correctly by the most unexpected person, if it was the thinker type like Levi, Grizel wouldn't be this astonished, but it was the crazy maid who surmised only based on her long experience serving her Lord.
All of her subordinates look at the laughing Grizel as if need confirmation of Lucy's sudden opinion.
"That's true, but..."
Plop!
Deus lay his head on the table, couldn't hold high the weight of his head that full of stress, creating a whole new empire is not as simple as smooched on someone else's wife then take her money away like he did in the past, it's on different levels of suspense.
Ignoring the desperate charming man, Grizel smiling towards Levi and asked.
"Levi, tell me what did you know about this poisonous mist"
"Yes, my Liege. As everyone knows, our historical record and everything about ancient times is extremely valuable due to the catastrophes that occurred between ancient times and our period of time"
Grizel, Lucy, and Deus nodded, it was common knowledge of this world about the catastrophes that befell in a thousand years ago, erased the living traces and put an end to ancient times.
That dark period of time was called the Void Age.
During the Void Age, the non-human races like Elf, Dwarf, Demon, Dragon, Mermaid, and many other races met with their extinction, no exception for the largest race at the time, the human population was halved and perished altogether with the other races.
Books, records, research, scripts, and all the collected knowledge vanished as well as living beings and treasure during this chaotic time, the world lost more of its 3/4 inhabitants along with all of their trace.
After undergoing the agony of the Void Age, only a little portion of monsters and half of the human race confirmed as the survivors.
They are the ancestors of the world's inhabitants right now, to start over their life, humans had no choice but to live with only their limited knowledge, making the ancient stuff discovery is a valuable treasure since then.
"A lot of tales been told by our ancestors of what happened during the Void Age like a giant tsunami swept clean the livings, world-shaking earthquakes that split open the lands, or the havoc volcanic eruptions burnt all to ashes..."
"But the stories were dubious to believe. That's why along with the time, not a few people started to think Void Age was only a myth, however, among that uncertainty, this poisonous mist still exists"
Levi explained proudly since he was the only one who diligently studied many subjects including history among Grizel's servants who choose to master on their only interests.
"You mean, that poisonous mist is the only remaining evidence of the Void Age?"
Deus jumped on the conclusion after hearing Levi's explanation, since long ago, that poisonous mist only circulated in that forbidden area, as long as it doesn't spread to the surrounding landmass, he couldn't care less about it, all he needs to do is avoid it, but...
It will be a different story if his Queen chooses to go to that problematic place instead.
"Yes, that's the most popular theory about that poisonous mist"
Levi replied firmly as Deus gulped, a lot of messes in his head are dancing like crazy right now, if that theory is true, it means they are going to the thing which is rumored to be part of the great disaster that erased the history of ancient times.
Gulped!
"My Queen, won't you reconsider the location of this new empire?"
Deus peeks at Grizel, hoping for her to rethink another place, but instead of a concerned expression, his gaze caught her smirk.
"I'll tell you one thing that could make this most trusted theory becomes a laughing matter"
"Pardon?"
All of her subordinates said in unison upon the abrupt statement.
"The first appearance of this poisonous mist is not during the Void Age..."
"...but after everything has ended"
Grizel said nonchalantly, stating the fact she gets through Athena's half-assed record since most of it is locked.
"It can't be, then..."
Shocked by the sudden fact, Levi mumbled when Grizel just calmly added.
"It means that all of the theories related to this poisonous mist as the remnant of the Void Age were all nothing but nonsense"
"It's weird..."
Levi drowned in his own train of thoughts but Grizel seems to have something else to say.
"Do you know what's weirder than the poisonous mist?"
The subject of their discussion is this mist, they have a theory yet it was proven to be a false one, this mist still exists even after a thousand years, dangerous but never harm people who didn't approach it, what could be weirder than it? Levi, Lucy, Deus shook their heads don't know what to answer.
"It's us, humans, we are weirder than that thing"
Grizel smiled while stating her inner mind when all of her subordinates tilted their heads like confused ducklings.
"It's been a thousand years passed yet no nation had tried to erase nor developed defensive tools to fight against the mist in case one day the poison is spreading worldwide"
Except for Grizel, all of them were startled by that undeniable fact, it's weird indeed, but she begins to speak again.
"Not even once human spare an effort to overcome this thick poisonous mist, why is that?"
In a chaotic mind, Deus tried to answer.
"But, isn't it alright as long as we didn't go to the dangerous area?"
As common knowledge of this world, humans tend to avoid that place, it's their belief that is rooted deep down into their mind as customary, including Levi, Lucy, and Deus.
But Angela Samael as an anomaly that wasn't originally from this world has her own way of thinking, she could see from different perspectives breaking this thing so-called customary.
"Hahaha"
Grizel laughs out loud when she heard his reply.
"That's the biggest question here, where did you get the confidence to say it's safe as long as we don't go to that area?"
They jolted, especially Deus. As if just realize something, a lot of questions popping up endlessly in their exhausted brain.
Where did I get the certainty of the assumption that the poisonous mist won't spread?
Since when I believe it?
Why did I believe that groundless thing without a deeper thought?
And...
...Who spread that belief?
To calm her subordinate Grizel decided to end their anxiety here.
"I don't know what is that poisonous mist, but the fact that our ancestors know something about it is clear, they never tried to defend themselves of it, so do we as their descendants"
They nodded in agreement, if it was a natural disaster, humans should fear the outbreak of the poison, but they were not, it means only one thing, that poisonous mist was purposely created.
By whom? Who knows!
And those ancestors were clearly hiding something that makes them have the confidence that poison won't cause any harm, making their descendants believe in the same thing as well.
Seeing their reactions, Grizel grinned widely saying...
"If the poison is not meant to attack, then..."
Levi, Lucy, and Deus replied in unison.
"It's meant to protect!"
Their eyes beaming, there's definitely something precious in that dangerous area, something that hidden for a thousand years.
"He, hehehehehe"
The 4 of them laughing in lunatic like possessed by evil.
"This poison is not to harm what's outside but to protect what's inside"
Grizel proclaimed confidently, thinking at the oddly thick poisonous mist that encircled the island for a thousand years as if hiding what's inside preventing the world to peek in.
Thud!
Grizel throws the roll of drawing that she took from her artifact ring to Deus as he frowned and open it up.
"...Submarine?"
He tilted his head, confused with the blueprint, he never sees anything like this.
Grizel can split open the mist for a brief moment using her wind control blessing, or consume the whole poison with her gluttony power of the artifact.
But that's stupid movement is like saying to the whole world that she is going to steal something precious in there, thus, she chooses the submarine project.
"To put it simply, it's an underwater warship"
Gasped!
"WOAAAHH HOLY SHI-"
Levi and Lucy covered Deus's mouth before he speaks something nasty in the presence of their master inflicted by his surge of excitement.
Deus tap their hands and nods as if telling them that it's okay, Lucy and Levi look at each other then take back their hands.
"I was going to say Holy Ship though..."
He said shamelessly refused to be blamed like a child, then looks at the blueprint once again.
"Aaaaahh this is another dreamy revolutionary thing to create, I'll make it, no matter how long-"
"I'll give you 6 months"
Grizel cuts his dream mercilessly.
"Huh? My Queen, are you trying to kill me with the work?"
Deus pleaded, even if most of these submarine features were designed to run by magic, but still, 6 months is not enough.
"I know your acquaintances in the black market, they are quite skillful, take all those jobless craftsmen, I'll pay them handsomely as your underlings"
"They might be a big help but-"
"5 months"
"Huh? Pardon? Why did the time-"
"4 months"
"Impossib-"
"3 mo-"
"Alright 4 months, I'll finish it in time"
Tap!
"Good, as expected of my genius Craftsman"
Grizel said tapping the desperate young man in satisfaction, finished with Deus, she shifts her eyes towards the assassin maid.
"Lucy, kidnap more slaves and gather all of our people at the Northeast coastline in the forest of Demise, we will build our submarine here"
Grizel put a red dot on the map at the Northeast part of the Forest of Demise, the farthest place from the crowds where they can start the project without anyone noticed.
"Levi, take this Elven script of the method to create a temporary teleportation gate"
Grizel throws a copy of the Elven secret script to Levi that she got from Athena's collection, it's the technique to create teleportation gates and connect 2 coordinates.
"Buy a small building at the slum and hide the gate inside of it, don't forget to set an invisible barrier around the gate before you leave, then travel along with Lucy and Deus to set the other gate at the forest of Demise"
"Lunar Squad members will train while clearing the area for Deus and his underlings to work in peace, Levi will be in charge of the daily necessity"
"all of you can use the gate only in case of emergency, except for Levi whom in charge of daily necessity, refrain from using the gate since it would be suspicious to see a bunch of people go in and out of the building"
"Any question?"
All the 3 of her subordinates shook their head, they don't want to argue with the devil Queen and ended up like Deus who doubled his assignment because of his loose mouth.
"Everything is clear, My Lord"
Grizel nodded, with all of them taking the task, she will be left alone at the capital this time.
"Good luck, now prepare and go"
"We will heed the order of Our Lord"
Lucy, Levi, and Deus get up from their seat and kneeled in front of Grizel before leaving.
'Now these troublemakers are gone, I need to focus on my engagement party next week'
'I wonder how's that spy, Emma's doing on my gown preparation...pfft'
To be continued...