Second World

"Let's celebrate with this!" Jack referred to the brimstone fruit in his hand. He had also gotten a recipe for this fruit, Hellish Spicy Steak. He wanted to try it out. He took out his cooking tool and the other ingredients. The other ingredients for the food were not that rare. They were available to buy from city shops.

"Aren't you going to give that to me?" Darmos asked.

Jack threw the fruit at him. Darmos caught it with the other hand that was not holding the fish. Jack took out another brimstone fruit from his inventory.

"How many brimstone fruits did you get down there?" Darmos asked.

"A lot," Jack answered. "Sit down. I'll tell you what happened."

The two chatted while Jack prepared the meal. Afterward, they enjoyed the meals together. Jack couldn't finish his meal. It was indeed hellishly spicy. Darmos, on the other hand, wolved down the food ravenously. Jack knew then the draconian preferred spicy food. He even ate the food that Jack couldn't finish.

Jack asked him if he wanted another dish. He was unwilling to say it but Jack could see the answer from his expression. So, Jack proceeded to cook another dish for him.

When Darmos was finally full, he said, "Take out your King's badge."

Jack complied. Darmos then tapped his fingertip on that badge. A flash occurred during the brief touch.

"Okay, it's done. I will move to Mount Thenias tomorrow morning," Darmos said.

"That's it?" Jack asked, looking at his king's badge. Nothing seemed to change.

"It's done. You can summon him now," Peniel answered.

"For kingdom's matter!" Darmos exclaimed. "Don't expect me to come for non-kingdom matters."

"That's right. You can only summon a country guardian in an official kingdom's conflict and only within Themisphere's territory," Peniel said. "You can summon a country guardian outside your country if the other side summons their country guardian. Additionally, unless it is in the capital for defensive purposes, there will be a one-week cooldown for summoning a country's guardian."

Hearing that, Jack said, "I see. No wonder the Grand Chief of Verremor didn't join the invasion war. Verremor should have a country guardian as well, right? If he did and he could summon their country guardian outside of Verremor, our army would be obliterated by that guardian."

"You are right. But normally, a native sovereign rarely joins the war unless necessary," Peniel said. "Maybe they couldn't confirm Themos' real condition. They didn't know if Themos is truly unavailable or if he would appear at a critical time with Tiemezzys. The grand chief should be on standby to join the war when Verremor's army reached the capital. That's when their country's guardian was truly needed. Because if they attacked the capital, Tiemezzys would surely interfere. They were saving their country's guardian so they didn't have to wait for the cooldown when they attacked the capital."

"Is there a time limit for how long a country guardian stays on the battlefield if summoned outside the capital?" Jack asked.

"Yes. One day," Peniel answered. "After one day, win or lose, the guardian will have to retreat."

"This put the defending side at an advantage," Jack said. "The defender's country guardian can defend the capital indefinitely, but the offensive side will have to wait one week if they fail to take down the capital in one day."

"That's why a country without a country guardian is much more vulnerable. It will be extremely difficult to take down a country with a country guardian guarding the capital."

"Which made Master's feats of defeating two countries that much more impressive," Jack muttered. He then added with a determined tone, "But I will still defeat him!"

"That's the spirit!" Peniel supported.

"I have no idea what you two are on about, just don't work my old bone too much," Darmos said. "I like my peace and quiet."

When Darmos saw Jack's awkward smile, he added, "Which I'm sure will be a thing of the past now."

He stood up and walked to his hut. "I'm going to pack and rest. Oh… Getting forced to move from my home. How unpleasant. The bastard who does this is truly heartless!"

"Old man, shut your door if you want to keep on complaining like that," Jack uttered.

After Darmos retired into his hut, Jack didn't sleep yet. He sent a message to John asking about the situation with Themelot.

John replied that the siege had been placed a few days ago. All the officials in Themelot were now aware of their intention. The city was completely riled up. The ambush option was out. John hoped that whatever Jack was planning could work. Otherwise, this would be a normal siege full of bloodbaths.

Jack said he would arrive there tomorrow.

After finishing with the messages, he took out the lockbox he had gotten from the underworld plantation and started working on lockpicking it. He spent several hours on the chore with the constant summoning of his Runestone of Probability to increase his success chance.

He sensed Darmos peeking at him from the hut's window. Probably wondering why Jack was still up. The draconian lost interest soon, though.

It was past midnight when Jack heard the successful click and quickly summoned his Runestone of Luck. Unfortunately, his lockpicking or runecrafting skill didn't level up despite the long usage.

When the box was opened, a familiar stone was seen inside.

"Didn't you say the chance of getting the same quest item from two lockboxes was very, very low?" Jack said to Peniel, who could only stay speechless as she stared at the stone inside the opened lockbox. The stone was another Portal-closing Stone.

Jack took out the stone and played with it in his hands while thinking.

"What are you going to do with this stone?" Peniel asked.

"I have a plan, but let's deal with Themelot's situation first," Jack answered. He then used his Camouflage Tent to spend the night.

*

The next morning, Jack couldn't find Darmos anywhere after he woke up. He figured the dragon should have flown to Thereath as he promised.

Jack tried checking it using his king's badge. He could communicate with his royal agents using that badge. He figured he should be able to do so as well with the country guardian.

He was right, but the voice that replied to him was not the grumpy draconian. It was the deep voice of Broidrireg, who asked why Jack bothered him from enjoying the view of Themisphere from the clouds. He said he hadn't visited the country for at least a century.

Jack told him his plan, to which Broidrireg complained that Jack was already forcing him to work on his first day in the office.

Jack was amused the dragon understood the concept of office.

He ended the communication and summoned Pandora. Climbing onto the winged nightmare, Jack told her the direction to Themelot. It's time to deal with the rebellion.