Chapter 3
"Imust say your cooking only gets better." My father slapped the table as he ate Simone's cooking spoonful by spoonful. And for Thorin, spoonfuls were obtained from a serving spoon. The man was an even greater glutton than myself, though I at least had some manners.
My mother sat not far away, watching him with a pleasant smile on her face. "You never compliment my cooking like that?"
Thorin froze mid-scoop to his mouth, hesitating with what to say next, and I decided to bail him out.
"Well, then you should cook next time, Mother. I haven't seen you cook much for our family dinners." I tried to smooth over the situation.
Elle smiled around the table at the eight women who joined us for the family dinners. "Well, there are others who seem more interested in trying to impress us," she said.
Winnie was all smiles, still wearing her apron as if trying to remind everyone she had cooked tonight's meal.
"Well, it's only right that we cook, especially knowing you both would be quite hungry and need to recharge from training Bran today.
" Winnie was all smiles, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
I had a feeling she would have rather participated in the training.
"His style is crude, but perhaps it works for him," my mother begrudgingly admitted.
"One can have a crude, reckless style with powerful regeneration. In fact, it’s even more fitting because he can sustain the shallow wounds and either win through attrition or score a finishing blow early." Thorin bobbed along, unaware of his wife's disappointment as he spoke.
Simone, however, caught the look and cleared her throat before the two of them had a marital spat. "How about instead we talk about what's up next?" Simone turned expectantly towards me.
"Yes." I sighed and put down my silverware. "I think we need to go to South America next."
There were those who already knew my next destination, but still, most of them seemed surprised that it was coming so soon.
"Why South America?" Thorin asked, putting down his spoon as his brows furrowed. "Should you not make for the Heavenly Fist Sect? After all, your stats have grown explosively since the Monkey King."
I chuckled and shook my head. "I considered it, but I think it’s a fool’s mission at this moment.
The Demon Lord has had plenty of time to grow his strength while I have been growing mine.
And even if I were to go to the Heavenly Fist Sect and try to fight him head-on, no doubt one of his soul fragments would escape, only to stir up more issues.
" I shook my head, and there were several frowns around the table.
"The Demon Lord's greatest weapon is the fact that he can split his soul, and therefore his body, to accomplish farming for experience and stats, as if he were a dozen individuals.
Combine that with his army seeking the best opportunities, and his own knowledge of the future, and I suspect he's grown even faster than he did in my prior life.
My concern at present is not with confronting him.
Instead, I wish to seek out several of the fragments and crush them to slow his growth and thereby his greater plans. "
"And there's one in South America," Thorin said, wagging his serving spoon at me.
I smiled and leaned back, thoughtfully gazing into the horizon.
"I’ve spent some time trying to figure out how to find his fragments.
One approach would be to aim for several of the high-ranking or high-level instances from my past life, knowing he will be working to build his strength.
However"—I paused, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room—"the Demon Lord's past life had far more information available to him.
In fact, he had an entire army giving him information.
So the end result is he probably knows vastly more opportunities, making the ones I know less likely to work at tracking any fragments down.
The best way for me to find those fragments is to look where the greatest deviations between my last life and this one are occurring. "
"And that's South America," Simone said, nodding along. "You mentioned we wouldn't have to worry about that area, but now we do?"
"Yes," I said, putting the tip of my spoon down and twirling it on the table in thought. "Eve of the First Garden was weaker than she should have been at the tournament, and she was far more concerned about demons, like they're a significantly larger problem there than they should be."
"Demons are a problem everywhere," Gloria pointed out.
"Yes, but there was something that happened in South America very different from the rest," I said, waiting to see if anyone would bite.
"Why?" Nyx didn't hesitate, chomping on it like a fish on a well-wormed hook.
"Because while so much of the world was ill-prepared for the Rapture, South America had people who should have not only survived it easily but thrived beyond any other area's population," I explained.
Now most of the group were frowning in thought.
"Are their gangs that much better than ours?" Gloria asked, leaning back and crossing her arms underneath her chest. She wore her hair down for dinner, and I liked the look, though the only time it normally came out of her bun otherwise was when she’d been… worked over.
"No, Gloria. Your gang is wonderful. It was the indigenous Amazonian tribes that became a significant source of trouble for the demons," I replied.
My words only caused half the group's eyebrows to pop up, while the other half were still thoughtful. Almeria seemed the most confused, as she wasn't as familiar with the surface world as the rest.
"I would have thought some contingent of clans would fare better than indigenous, normal humans." Circe tilted her head.
I waggled a finger at her. "You forget even the clans have modernized to a significant degree.
What I am talking about is those who live within the Amazon Rainforest. People surviving off the land and already clustered into large, community-focused groups.
Now they have been given an endless bounty of hunting that not only sustains but also helps them grow more powerful?
They have long felt weak compared to those who'd rob their lands of resources.
Not only did they have the means, but they also had the passion. "
"These people have been pushed around for so long, and you offer them an opportunity to not only be self-sufficient but to correct their standing when it comes to power," Gloria said with sudden understanding.
The smile on Gloria's face told me she understood well enough. Then some of the others began nodding.
"I see," my mother said, "amongst these tribes, there should be those powerful enough to take care of any demon incursions and, in fact, cleanse them?"
I nodded. "They should have several individuals that rival the strength of clan leaders.
And the demons shouldn't be a problem for Eve and the First Garden. Instead, those tribes should be her greatest concern. My suspicion is that the Demon Lord has seeped his influence into the area and robbed them of the opportunities that might otherwise have caused the tribe's explosive growth. He’s winning on both points. He’s strengthening himself while weakening his enemy.
“Camden is a sly tactician. I would expect nothing less than such efficiency from him. Besides," I said, returning to my meal, "we should go help the First Garden, if nothing else than to tend to the relationships between clans and sects."
Circe grumbled something under her breath.
"Excuse me?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow at her words.
She waved a hand. "Nothing I can't handle.
And I'm afraid I'm out for this particular mission.
The Heros Clan is going to be diving into some of their own strengthening.
Zeus demanded that Hercules and I take a more active role in training.
" She waggled her head. "He also somewhat demanded that you take an active role in training the clansmen, but I told him that you're now likely outside his reach. " She chuckled.
"How badly did that bother him?" Simone leaned forward eagerly.
Circe glanced at me out of the side of her eye, a sly smirk spreading across her face. "Oh, he was apoplectic." She chuckled. "You should have seen his face."
"It's not good to speak of the clan leader like that," my mother attempted to scold Circe, who waved her off. "We're amongst family, or would you betray my words to him?"
Elle cracked a smile. "No. But I thought I could threaten to as a way to keep my own son in check."
"Good luck with that," Simone said. "I think if you try and keep your son in check, you're going to find yourself out of resources in the citadel,” Simone playfully added while her eyes held a dangerous glint towards my mother.
I shook my head and grabbed Simone's soft thigh and squeezed it between my fingers, and she turned to me. "Of course, Lord Bran." She half-bowed while sitting, in the way many of them all did, and I rolled my eyes. But she was at least successful at disarming me.
“None of that.” I swatted her rear and chuckled,
Simone licked her lips and bit those plump pink pillows, her eyes practically glazing over with lust. “More?”
"Careful, before you bite off more than you can chew." I grinned, only for her to grin back.
"Well then, consider me ready for a feast. After all, I have a feeling that I am not going on this particular trip." She smiled.
"Traveling through the Amazon will require a little more agility," I said, avoiding her gaze, only for Simone to nod sagely.
"Of course, take Merlin, Nyx, Almeria, and Venthra."
Winnie flashed her glare from the other side of the table, and Simone's face grew soft as she pouted at the icy woman. "I need someone as strong as you to remain here if Bran's going to be absent."
Winnie struggled with the compliment that also tied her down. I saw her war with it for a moment before deciding to give up. Most of them knew fighting Simone was futile. Besides, I was sure Winnie would use the opportunity to grow closer with Simone.
"Fine," Winnie ground out, "but I demand to go with Bran wherever he's going next." It almost seemed like there was something left unsaid at the end of her sentence, as she and Simone communicated with subtle expressions and glints of their eyes.
"Of course," Simone said to whatever silent conversation they were having and sat back with a smug smile of satisfaction. "I assume that group works for you?" she asked me.
"Merlin's absolutely needed if we're going to get around quickly, and Nyx would be incredibly helpful with her serpents and danger perception." I shrugged.
The woman looked up from where she'd been devouring her plate, her hair transformed into snakes now that she was a Medusa, mostly focused on me, with a few eyeing the remaining scraps of her dinner. "I'd love to go," Nyx said. "My snake hair would be fantastic and ensure we weren't ambushed."
"And, of course, Almeria would be extraordinarily welcome, especially if we'd have to deal with anything in the Amazon River itself," Simone continued.
The woman who was part sea dragon grinned. "River or sea makes no difference to me. You may count on my blade. How large is this river?" She paused, asking Simone.
Simone held her arms wide apart. "Absolutely gigantic."
“Then I will be a great help.” Almeria nodded to herself.
My eyes fell on Venthra, who was already looking dissatisfied at being left for last. Perhaps she thought she was tossed in as an afterthought. I was coming to understand that she just lacked self-esteem and hid it behind her brash nature.
"And as for Venthra, she's the best scout we could ask for," Simone finished with a flourish of her hands.
The messy redhead squinted at me. She had been Vidar's adoptive daughter while he used her as an assassin; her class and skill primarily revolved around poison and assassinations.
"Merlin should be better at that than me," she said, crossing her arms.
"Perhaps in the dark," Merlin offered, "however, I assume we'll be doing just as much in the day, and for that, you could use your talents far more than mine."
Unknown to any of them, Venthra had another value. The Amazon Rainforest seemed to spawn a large number of poison users, making her knowledge also useful for our group.
It seemed Venthra was unsure how to take it and simply crossed her arms. "I suppose, then, if you all want me so much, I have no choice." Her eyes slid back to me. "When do we go?"
I swallowed the bite I had just been working through. "Tomorrow."
With that word, they all seemed flabbergasted.
Simone slapped me on the thigh. "You're supposed to give ladies some time to pack."
"Why?" I asked, my mouth half full with my next bite.
My mother sighed and covered her face with her hand. "I'm sorry, ladies. I seem to have a few failings when I raised him."
"It couldn't have been easy," Gloria said, moving over and patting my mother on the shoulder with a sympathetic shake of her head. “Simone, if you’d like to keep him busy then, tonight is your shot.”
The Saintess next to me practically vibrated with excitement. “I owe you one, Gloria.”