The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 708: Sometimes, we have to acquire peace through violence

The first one to speak was Bishop Avarash, perhaps because he was the oldest--ahem--looked the oldest among the representatives. Besides, we were in the Human Realm, so the ’host’ should be human, no?

Even then, he only spoke after Stan told everyone that the content of the Covenant was to be decided among the representatives, not the patron deities. Phew. That was a good start, right? As expected of the most ancient nanny--he knew these deities very well.

"Ahem--should we...move to a better place?" Avarash offered as if the Grand Church was his place.

Oh, but...the templars were also part of the church before they got exiled, so perhaps they used to stay in the Grand Church--at least the older generation. But, well...that was also a nice attitude to have. The church would experience a grand reshuffle, and with so many rotten parts needed to be cut, the templars should take care of the important positions.

Hmm...should we do this inside, after all?

"No," surprisingly, our mediator raised his hand to decline. "There’s no need to waste more time. The patrons had been summoned, and the sky had darkened. We shall make haste."

Very efficient, just like his voice.

"Ah...very well," the Bishop lowered his head. I kind of pitied him, but Stan was right.

Let’s not waste more time.

[But to renew the Old Covenant] the Goddess glanced at me. [Shouldn’t there be the Old Covenant to be used as a compass?]

Why did she look at me like that?

[I’m not sure we can find it quickly, but there should be a copy in--] frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

"Nah," I flicked my hand in dismissal--if I looked rude while doing it, that was completely intentional. "I’m not sure the humans who kept on rejecting the re-establishment effort from a century ago would be keen to keep a copy of it," I arched my brow at the golden statue, before checking the storage pouch where Shiny threw its finding earlier. "See? There’s nothing in their vault and secret storages."

"You go through our stora--mmph?!"

"Shush," I snapped my fingers and covered the mouths of all the church members and the executives with the white vines.

What a bunch of idiots. But then again, if they were smart, they wouldn’t think of doing trashy stuff in the first place.

[Good job, my child]

Oh! Even Mother supported me. Nice!

And before the haughty Goddess could say anything, I gave her my bestest, most innocent, customer service smile that Lesta taught me to be used against annoying characters. "Forgive me, my Lady. It pains me to see your followers acting so uncouth in this formal event."

The Goddess narrowed her eyes, and I was quite sure I heard Natha cough to hide his chuckle--but the Demon God had no qualm about annoying the Goddess. He laughed openly, and Natha had to clear his throat so he would be able to speak through the speaker-like laughter.

"You don’t have to worry about the old document," Natha said, taking out a clear crystal box with a secure scroll inside. "I have a copy here--perfectly preserved, as you can see."

"I mean...you can’t possibly think we came here for the Old Covenant without bringing the necessary conditions--can you, my Lady?" I added, still with a sweet smile on my face.

[Well, that’s good] the Goddess replied dryly.

Oh, it was kind of fun acting like a mean girl. Ceci would be proud!

Natha glanced at me and curled his lips, before opening the clear encase and sending the document to the golem judge. With a simple touch on the black seal, the scroll unfurled and hovered in front of him.

"Would the representative come closer," the golem swept his gaze to the three of us, and we came to the place where the Goddess’s statue was earlier.

In a way, it was very appropriate. Not only because the place had been carrying a symbolic gesture for the host realm, but also because the pedestal of the statue became something like a podium. Coincidentally, the bottom part looked like a small staircase, as if fate had ordained this moment.

When I was about to step into the bottom staircase, the air around me suddenly turned cold. A familiar, comfortable cold. A hand, big and strong and blue, appeared in front of me. "May I escort you, Your Highness?"

I almost screamed. I almost squealed. I almost grabbed his hand and jumped into his arms. I almost kissed him right there and then. At least, I think I did all of that in my head. But all hail Lesta and Eruha, who had tirelessly coached me about poker face!

Amazingly, I managed to take his hand normally--like those nobles in a ball--despite my heart rate increasing like crazy and smiling just a decent amount. "Thank you, Lord Natha."

Very demure.

He escorted me to the top of the podium, and like a gentleman, let my hand go and stepped to the side, creating a perfect distance between the participants. I had no idea how he could look so calm despite his hand trembling when he held mine, but that was to be thought about later.

For now, the Old Covenant.

Stan looked at the three of us before explaining the procedure. "The material, in which the Old Covenant was made, was a special one. To proceed with it quickly, I suggest we make a revision directly on top of the old one," the golem moved his fingers above the document, and something I could only describe as a floating screen appeared above it. "Another Sacred Guardian is making the same material as of now, so once it is finalized and sealed, we can copy it for each realm."

I squinted my eyes to look at this editable document, feeling incredibly impressed. Very modern, I must say.

"I agree," Natha said, bringing me back to the business.

"I agree," I nodded.

Naturally, Avarash also voiced his agreement, and this was where the complicated stuff occurred. You know...clauses? Terms and conditions? Things like that.

I had to admit; I was not proficient in diplomatic courses. If I had to give my demands on the spot, I wouldn’t be able to have them articulately. I could let Natha do it, but I was acting as a representative for another realm, so it wouldn’t look good if Natha spoke in our regard.

That was why, I came prepared, holding a parchment filled with what I wished could be included in the new, hopefully longer Covenant. It might bore you, so I would just give you the summary of the discussion.

Of course, the first thing we needed to address was the invading acts of the humans. That was the whole reason the covenant was made anyway: to prevent inter-race aggression.

Once more, we made it so that any attack across the border was prohibited. Any action against this law would be viewed in a Three Realm Tribunal--which would be established later, with members from all three realms holding equal rights. The transgressor shall be punished accordingly, and disputes shall be treated with peaceful solutions in mind.

That was what the ancestors were supposed to do. But how could they have a trial with three realms involved when they didn’t want to get involved with each other? Ugh--what a joke.

Thus, we desperately needed clauses that supported this peace-keeping outlook, including exchanging diplomatic efforts such as sending ambassadors to each realm. Well...at the start, they might felt like political prisoners, but if the relationship between realms got better, that perception should have changed. Hopefully.

Of course, there was no better way to mend a broken connection than an economically driven activity. Thus, we agreed to open the border for trade. An extensive effort to clean the empty regions would be held by the three realms to turn the place into a neutral belt geared for trade activity.

I mean...it was already a hub for the black market anyway. Might as well make it legal.

Not to mention, a lot of shady activity that resulted in this inter-realm war held in this empty region, so cleaning it up allowed us to uproot these unsavory characters.

Killing a lot of birds with one stone! Natha’s favorite!

Of course, my favorite part was border normalization. With the renewal of the covenant, all action of realm invasion was considered as punishable transgression. The annexed territory had to be returned and compensation had to be paid by the transgression.

The details were to be discussed with the involved parties--meaning the representative of the Empire who annexed the Druid Kingdom and me, the sole heir to the throne--on a later date.

Oh, I couldn’t wait. I so couldn’t wait.

But I shall be patient for now, because there was a priority to be made.

Watching the golem edit the document to contain everything we had discussed and agreed upon was fascinating. It wasn’t exactly like people typing, but more like solving puzzles. Each words were made out of runes, even though the letter was in the common tongue. It was so magical and yet so modern. Fascinating, just like the golem himself.

"Are all parties in favor?" Stan asked after each of us examined the content of the covenant properly.

Well, I had no problem with the content. Honestly, the one with the weakest position was the human realm, since they had to bear a lot of consequences. Once it was established, the representative would have to explain a lot.

"I am in favor," Bishop Avashar nodded with a firm sound and face. Seeing this, I guessed he was ready for the responsibility.

But then again, this was something made in front of the three deities, so what if the other humans protested? They should whine to their Goddess then.

"Since there are no more revisions, the content shall be concluded," Stan returned the text to the paper, before raising his head and looking at the three vessels of the deity. "The patrons’ seal, if you will."

A colorful wing of a bird, a blazing finger of a shadow, and a golden hand of a statue; black, golden, and iridescent glows flowed from them, intertwining and seeping into the paper. The glow enveloped each letter, each mark, each name of the representative, and spread all over the empty space.

When the glow disappeared, the paper scrolled in itself. A white cord coiled around it; a black wax dripped from empty air, and a golden stamp secured the wax.

Stan, formerly Logos the Arbiter, took the scroll and announced it to the world. "Thus, the New Covenant is born."

It was only later did I found out that this whole process was broadcasted to the whole realm.