The Duke suddenly realized that if he were to be a fool like that one Duke, he would end up lamenting everything at the end… Demons were not something that could be taken lightly, even less a presumed Demon Gate.
Demons were present in the wild everywhere in the world, but when there were such high concentrations of them in a small area such as that forest… then bad things could happen and that could mean a total invasion from demons coming out of their accursed Demon Gates, which connect directly to the "Demon World" as the people of Spiritias calls Hell.
"Damn demons… Even to this age when their Demonic Towers are sealed and there are large cities around them where Adventurers constantly thin out their numbers… They're still coming to the mainland using their damned Gates…" He sighed. "This… will be a long-term investment, but I suppose I cannot act foolishly and arrogantly if this is really what's happening there."
The Duke's loyal soldier looked at the Duke with eyes filled with hope, he knew that his Duke was a selfish and greedy man, but he wasn't stupid. He had gained all his wealth and brought his Duchy to this point out of his intelligence, and he wasn't someone that would end up risking his Duchy out of blind arrogance and selfishness.
There was already a bit example in the neighboring Kingdom of Silvertide, if he were to commit the same mistake as those greedy and selfish men that didn't wanted to assist a poor village being attacked by a tide of demons, he would regret it later.
"My lord… I knew you would take the correct decision." Said the Soldier.
"Hmph, because you brought this to me, you're going there, Markus." Said the Duke.
"E-Eh? Me?!" asked the Soldier. He never expected to be included into all of this.
"Don't make me that face! You might be from a Noble Family, but you still enlisted yourself as a Soldier and Knight! So you'll do as I say! Right? Heh… Take it as your punishment for bringing me this head…" said the Duke. "You could had perfectly checked the box beforehand, fool."
"I-I just wanted it to be a gift for you, Duke!" Cried the Soldier. "Sigh… But it's alright, I am willing to go help these people. As Markus Allbright, I am willing to help the people. This is what my father taught me. We knights are born for the purpose of fulfilling our duties, and our greatest duty is to assist the Kingdom and its people. Commoners or not, they're an important part of our Duchy!"
"Sigh… What an intoxicatingly righteous little kid…" sighed the Duke, waving his hand. "Now go, gather a small team, and go make sure there is indeed a Gate there, after confirming it to me, I will invest more money and send a larger group of Soldiers… And probably mercenaries."
"U-Understood!" said the soldier, as Mark began to slowly walk away with the box on his hands. However, the Duke stopped him midway through.
"Make sure to find the one that sent this letter and this box…" said the Duke. "I want to know who he was."
"Ah… U-Understood, although that might be hard if you want to punish this man, sir…" sighed Markus.
"Punish him? Yeah, I might be angered he send me a chopped off head, but this opened my eyes… I want to know who he is and reward him." said the Duke. "Also his writing was spectacular, and if he was strong enough to take down such a strong demon, it means he's both talented at fighting and also incredibly intelligent… I need men like him, find him!"
"Understood! It will be done as you command, my lord!" said Markus, slowly walking away.
The Duke sighed as he walked out of the throne and slowly made his way towards the dining room, where he found his wife and his two daughters about to eat lunch, the food was almost ready. He greeted them all as he sat down over his large chair, he seemed more worried and stressed than other times.
"Dear, is something happening?" wondered his wife.
"Yes… Problems that might escalate into something too big if we don't take care of them while we can…" he sighed. "I always thought my duchy was already good, but I never take into consideration stuff , so it always end up impacting me…"
"Problems? What is it this time?" asked his wife.
"Demons." Said the Duke.
The Duke's wife seemed surprised, her sharp aquamarine eyes and long blonde hair were radiant, and her appearance was still youthful despite being in her mid-thirties already. She was indeed a beautiful woman that illuminated the Duke's path like a shining star.
However, the moment the woman heard the word "demons" is when she suddenly changed, growing concerned and even worried… She knew very well that demons were incredibly vicious monsters capable of vicious atrocities, she had experienced such atrocities firsthand. Seeing demons as mere monsters was never a good idea.
"Indeed… Someone reported to me that there is a Demon Gate in the village that bring us wild boar meat. This place is also the same where those hunters were wounded by a demon." Sighed the Duke. "Back then I didn't had the time to care about them and just asked them to bring it to me… I can't believe they beat so many demons just to get to the wild boar…"
"T-Those people?!" asked his wife. "I-I see… So that's how it ended… There is a Demon Gate there? That would explain the giant demon that attacked them beforehand… You were very skeptic about it and now you just changed your mind and believe them?"
"Well, after what I sent to me, I cannot not believe them anymore…" sighed the man. "They sent me the head of a Blue Oni, a high-ranking demon, often classified as a D-Rank Monster."
The woman's eyes opened wide once more… Blue Oni were more intelligent and vicious that mere Imps… if there could be more of them, demons would progressively grow more coordinated… this was really bad news.
Whatever it was, they had to prepare for the worst.