The room fell into complete silence the moment Lucifer asked about ways to enter the Risen Kingdom.
Pin-drop silence...
After a brief moment of thought, Desmond spoke:
"Young Master, Lucifer.
There is only one path to reach the Risen Kingdom... and that path is through the sea.
As you probably already know, the Human Alliance and Lustbound Heaven Kingdom form a vast continent that shares its borders with the Beast Nation of Piccolo Kingdom and the Elves Nation of Hemis Kingdom.
However, besides this, there are two more major continents in this world.
One is the Risen Kingdom of Demons and Devils.
And the other is... the Oceana Kingdom.
Oceana Kingdom is mostly inhabited by marine and aquatic lifeforms such as mermaids, sirens, krakens, selkies, Nereids, Tritons, Leviathans, Thalmry, sea serpents, crabfolks, water dragons, undines, kelpies, coral golems, bioluminescent nomads, whale sages... and many more.
But among these species, quite a few can also come onto land from time to time. The best examples of this are mermaids/mermen, Thalmry, sirens, and kelpies.
It is precisely because of this that these marine and aquatic lifeforms established their own kingdom.
Young Master Lucifer... you may not believe me, but the Oceana Kingdom is the largest kingdom in the entire world... because it rules not only over the land but over the entire ocean as well.
The royal family here are descendants of the legendary pureblood Leviathans, who are also called Thalmry.
There are still rumors today that Leviathans have not gone extinct but continue to rule somewhere in the depths of the ocean.
After the royals come the nobles of the Oceana Kingdom, which include mermaids/mermen, Nereids, water dragons, sea serpents, and Tritons.
They rule over all the oceans of this world, which is why the kingdom is named Oceana.
This kingdom is very ancient... and extremely mysterious...
But... where you want to go — that is, the Risen Kingdom — is even older than the Oceana Kingdom. It is ancient.
I am not saying this; history says that this world was created by Goddess Nara, Velia, and God Augustus.
Their first child was not a human.
We, the people of the Holygrill family, are descendants of the divine Valkyrie named Keria, who was the first human born among those gods and goddesses.
The goddess we worship is Goddess Velia, the Goddess of Life and Fertility.
But this world existed long before humans were born, and there are no records of that era... at least not in the Human Alliance and Lustbound Heaven Kingdom. I don't know about the others.
Hmmm... so where was I? Yes, we were talking about the Risen Kingdom.
The Risen Kingdom... as I told you, according to the known history of this world, there are five continents, and these five continents also form five separate kingdoms.
The Risen Kingdom is the oldest among them.
Mythology says that spirits were the first beings to appear in this world. Many kinds of spirits. And with the help of these spirits, various life forms were born.
The first among them was the wolf spirit, Ashmaw.
After that came the Baalreths. They were born when many Warrior Spirits, the Mythrakar, procreated with the wolf spirits, Ashmaw.
The Baalreths were no ordinary beings... they were pure abominations.
Because they possessed the traits of both Ashmaw and the Mythrakar.
Ashmaw... the wolf spirits... drank the blood of other creatures and were extremely loyal to their partners.
On the other hand, the Mythrakar were the first humanoid life forms in this world. They had faces like goats, four horns on their heads, and because they were humanoids, they could also walk on two legs.
It is said that when God Augustus had sex with a death warrior spirit named Morghyra and impregnated her, the Mythrakar were born.
Being descendants of God Augustus, they were valorous, arrogant, and ruthless... but even then, they were not evil.
But when these Mythrakar procreated with the blood-drinking wolf spirits Ashmaw, the Baalreths were born. They inherited the loyalty and bloodsucking traits of the Ashmaw, along with the arrogance, power, and ruthlessness of the Mythrakar.
The combination of these traits began to change the nature of the Baalreths, and they gradually became evil.
Even at that time, however, they were not as bad as they would later become.
In this way, the world continued, and later the Baalreths again procreated with the wolf spirits Ashmaw, which brought another change. Instead of having goat-like faces, they began to look more wolf-like.
On the other side, when God Augustus procreated with the wolf spirits Ashmaw, the Sanguines were born. They can be called the progenitors of blood... or, in simple terms, ancient vampires.
In this manner, the population of different life forms in this world kept increasing. This included dragons, Mythrakar, Baalreths, progenitors of blood, and countless other creatures.
Then came a historic moment... when the females of the Baalreths tribe had sex with pureblood dragons... and the result of this union was the Malakar tribe, which later became the Royal Family of the Risen Kingdom.
On the other hand, when the progenitors of blood had sex with the death warrior spirits, Morghyra, the Sanguines were born. They later became vampires and named their tribe Morghmawl.
The descendants of that very Morghmawl tribe are now part of the noble vampire family, Narkul, in the Risen Kingdom."
"It is said that this world does not end with just these five continents... there are many other landmasses besides them that no one has discovered yet..."
Desmond was just about to continue when Lucifer raised his hand, signaling him to stop, and said,
"Sir Desmond... I have listened to you for so long, and it was very knowledgeable. I am grateful to you... but I did not call you here to tell me the history of the Risen Kingdom or this world.
I want to know the way to reach the Risen Kingdom, and I am telling you the truth — I have very little time. So right now, please tell me the method to go there. I will listen to the rest of your story later."
Hearing Lucifer's words, Desmond said,
"Young Master, please forgive me for keeping you entangled for so long... Yes... the way to reach the Risen Kingdom... Hmmm... Hmmm... Yes... It is quite simple...
From here, if you head southeast, you will reach the Sea Fionacracy — that is, near the Duchy's Velticore City and Vitaclare City.
If you travel approximately 3,458 miles south from the Sea Fionacracy, you will reach the port town of Bawalia in the Risen Kingdom."
"Alternatively, if you wish, you can also depart from Balvensi Port in the Purefield Duchy. The distance will be a bit shorter... around 2,600+ miles."
After this, Lucifer asked,
"What is the capital of the Risen Kingdom and in which direction does it lie?"
To this, Desmond replied,
"My liege... the capital of the Risen Kingdom is called the State of Authority, Grimancia. But as for which direction it lies in... I do not know.
I have never been there... I have only seen the port town of Bawalia from a galleon during one of my voyages."
The moment Desmond finished speaking, Lucifer placed his hand on Crotivia's head and told her to think about her father, Sir Valdren.
After that, Lucifer searched through Crotivia's memories and copied the memories related to Valdren.
Along with this, he also shared the copied memories with Vance, Zyrelia, and Mara, then said to them:
"Vance, you will go to the Risen Kingdom with Zyrelia and Mara and bring Sir Valdren back safely.
My Void Transit range right now is only around 2,200+ miles... that is why I cannot teleport the three of you directly there... so the three of you will have to go on your own."
"If any problem arises, any one of you can inform me directly... Anyway, you three already know the method of thought communication."
"Now go... I need Sir Valdren back in the Ducal Palace within 10 days, and..."
Before Lucifer could finish, Desmond interjected and said,
"Sire, the Risen Kingdom is extremely dangerous... The power ranking of the demons, vampires, imps, and devils there is completely different from ours.
I have not seen it with my own eyes... but I have heard that even the lowest level beings there — kobolds — are A+ rank monsters... In such a situation, how will these three possibly rescue Sir Valdren... Moreover, you have given them only 10 days. Even if they travel on the fastest seafaring ship, it will take at least 15 days."
Lucifer listened carefully to Desmond once again, then looked at Vance, Mara, and Zyrelia and said,
"You three saw what Desmond is saying, right? He doesn't think you three will succeed... So this time, you three have to prove Desmond wrong."
After that, Lucifer gently placed his hands on the heads of his shadow-daughters, Mara and Zyrelia, and said,
"Mara, Zyrelia... when you two complete the mission and return, I will do everything you two want... I will not refuse you anything."
Then Lucifer looked at Vance and said,
"Take care of my two daughters... and you can also ask me for whatever you want. Don't be shy."
After saying this, Lucifer called Vance closer and, without letting them know, used his new skill [Power Manipulator] on Vance, Zyrelia, and Mara together, boosting their power rankings by one level, and said,
"Now go... I will be waiting for the three of you."
Upon Lucifer's words, Mara and Zyrelia hugged him once more, while Vance knelt before Lucifer.
A little later, Mara and Zyrelia released Lucifer's chest and disappeared into the shadows along with Vance.
As soon as they left, Lucifer also used Void Transit and created a portal to the Ducal Palace.
Seeing this, Synthia said,
"Young Master, won't you stay here even for a day?"
To this, Lucifer replied,
"Not this time, Lady Synthia... I have some important work in the Duchy, but yes, I will be waiting for you in Serendity Town after five days."
Saying this, Lucifer stepped into the portal along with Crotivia and disappeared from the guest room of the Holygrill residence.