Card Apprentice Daily Log

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Dark Realm, Owlape Territory, Moonpraise Capital, Mulias Royal Palace, Royal Cabinet

Deep within the royal apartments, a cabinet of luxuriously dressed Owlapes awaited their Empyrean inside a small, private room. Its opulent decor inspired awe and intimidated esteemed visitors, as designed.

Instead of chairs, these powerful ministers sat on high, velvet-covered stone ledges, their huge eyes staring down at a shiny blue marble floor. Everything in the room, from the floating black-rock desk to the giant throne towering over them, was built to remind them of one simple thing: the Empyrean was their ruler, their god, and a single whisper in this quiet room could wipe out an entire realm.

Soon, an Owlape with the powerful body of a gorilla and the big eyed head and silent crimson feathers of an owl entered the room on his two feet. Unlike gorillas, he wasn’t stooped or used his knuckles to walk. His limbs were all proportional, allowing him to stride bipedally as he made his way to his throne and sprawled on it lazily.

The ministers didn’t dare to breathe too loudly while keeping their gazes stuck to the floor, as His Highness had been in a bad mood since they hadn’t been able to locate their Crown Prince, Mamas Mulias, whom the Dark Realm unfairly labeled as the Deviant Devil.

In the past few days, His Majesty had been paying a visit to all his known enemies to see if someone had lured the Crown Prince using his love for exotic species again. His Majesty hadn’t had a wink of sleep or food since the disappearance of the crown prince, as he gave his word to Her Highness, the Empyrean Queen, his word that he will not rest or have food until they found their son to console her grieving heart when she demanded him to give her his word.

Considering His Highness’s realm not having food would do no harm, but being a true Ruler-class race, the Owlapes had the hunger fitting a Ruler-class being. For them, going hungry for a couple of days could be considered a test of character, but a few days was simply torture, even though it didn’t have any effect on their strength.

Any ordinary Owlape would have long been driven mad by now. The fact that His Highness could hold on until now was a testament to his strong will. But they knew things couldn’t go on like this. What if, God forbid, they were never able to find their Crown Prince?

However, no one thought Her Highness was being unreasonable. They knew with how much difficulty Her Highness had given birth to the strongest Crown Prince their race had ever recorded. Even as a newborn, their prince had the strength to destroy mountains and rivers, and Her Highness had carried that monster in her womb for years. They couldn’t imagine the suffering she endured to give birth to such a monstrous Crown Prince. As such, they understood her rage at their failure to find their Crown Prince and also welcomed it.

However, instead of punishing them for their incompetence in finding their prince, who seemed to have vanished out of thin air from his sanctuary, she was punishing their ruler, their god. Which they found a little too cruel.

They also understood that His Highness couldn’t continue on like this for long and that he would never break the word he gave to his loving wife, so there were several dozen of the ministers kneeling outside Her Highness’s quarters, requesting her to lift the ban on His Highness and punish them instead.

Just then, the cabinet room’s door was flung open as a slender Owlape with silver feathers walked into the room wearing a silk one-piece that covered her big bosom and crotch. Her beauty was akin to the moon they all longed for, while her attendants hurried behind, trying to catch up but couldn’t, as Her Highness was the swiftest among their race.

Even if she were to walk normally, one couldn’t keep up with her while giving their all, forget about catching up to her, as such was her blessing. Only someone so strong could give birth to a perfect Crown Prince for their race.

Looking at their Empyrean, her husband, who was sprawled on his throne, she sneered, “I see you didn’t take my words seriously.”

“My love, we were waiting for you,” the Empyrean said as he sat up straight, while Her Highness stood beside his throne, rolling her eyes at him and signaling to the ministers with her intent sense to lift their heads.

All the Owlapes lifted their heads in unison and greeted their rulers, their gods, before the Grand Vizier announced the matter that required this urgent gathering while they were all busy searching for their Crown Prince. Then he began pointing out what they knew.

“As you already know, a native to the Realm of True Evil was recruited as a Devil Merchant, who used the Demon Merchant Code’s inter-realm transportation function to leave the realm.

“Here’s what we have gathered so far about the incident.

“We contacted the Demon Merchant Code about this and learned that it didn’t recruit the Devil Merchant native to the Dark Realm. The said Devil Merchant used a Devil Merchant token to join the Demon Merchant Code as a Devil Merchant.”

“Through Demon Merchant Code we learned that the race of the said Devil Merchant is in fact none other than the dreaded True Evil.”

As soon as the Grand Vizier confirmed their worst guess the perfect silence felt eerily cold and heavy on each of their shoulders. As the only race to have completely explored the Realm of True Evil, they knew how dreadful these creatures were and what they were capable of. Therefore despite Grand Vizier confirming their suspicions they still could not believe that the primitive and barbaric True Evil could understand what Devil Merchant Token and Demon Merchant Code was let alone join an organization of its own free will. They couldn’t get along with their own kind. They would not hesitate to kill their fellow hatchlings over a victory. How could they agree to part an organization, follow a set of rules. No matter how they tried to wrap their minds around this they simply couldn’t. Even though they arrived at the same conclusion even before the Grand Vizier confirmed it.

Novel Raider: The First Fiction Summoner