Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~
Chapter 358: The floating island

Chapter 358: The floating island

"O-over here please. You can use this meeting room."

"Thank you."

Nicolai sounded more nervous than usual.

Allen thanked him and entered the room, but then started wondering if that really was used commonly as a meeting room.

It was more like a hall used to greet royal visitors or for important ceremonies had been hastily equipped with a table and chairs.

"S-should I bring something to eat, perhaps?"

'Don't mind me, please.'

"A-alright, I understand."

The Goddess of Fire Freya had returned into the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi, but the former First Angel Merus was still summoned.

He was going to take part in the meeting Allen had planned, so he remained summoned since his appearance in the square.

"Oh right, Nicolai."

"Y-yes?"

"Could you go and double check on all the former followers of Gushara's Sacred Teachings that wish to leave Niel and come with us? Make sure it's what they really want."

All of them would end up leaving Niel, and the Holy Land altogether.

It would be tricky for them to return afterwards, and they probably would leave their relatives behind as well, so Allen wanted Nicolai to make sure it was what they all wanted.

"O-of course! Just to clarify, you're only looking for former followers of Gushara, or can others join as well?"

A large portion of the city had seen Freya and Merus.

Her power had left a lasting impression in all their minds.

There were probably many people who would be willing to join them, even if they were not former cultists.

"Well, I'd appreciate seeing more people come, but we don't really have the means to support more people than those who really need it."

"You're right, I understand."

Allen decided to not allow any followers of Elmea's church.

He was worried that conflicts could start between them and the former cultists.

The entire issue began because Elmea's Church was not treating them fairly after all.

Things could get ugly if fights broke out in the floating island.

"Though this is my first time starting something like this. So if any priests want to come along, that would be helpful."

Including Allen's past life, he had no experience building up a new religion.

There was only one time a lady visited his cheap apartment trying to recruit him into a cult.

He did not know how to properly address religious people, so he figured having a few priests could be helpful.

He did not know how many he would need, but he knew there would be around ten thousand cultists.

While it was not certain that all of them would come to the flying island, he figured it was best to ask for enough priests to watch over that number of people.

"U-understood. I'll begin looking for candidates immediately."

"I have one more important request."

"What is it?"

"Like we told you before, and as you saw earlier, it was only thanks to the Goddesss of Fire Freya that we were able to successfully defend this continent."

"Y-yes?"

Nicolai was unsure of where the conversation was going.

The damage caused by Gushara and the Demon King's Army had been quite large.

But Freya had stepped in to reel that in, quickly putting an end to it.

Not to mention that one of Allen's friends even turned into her apostle. Nicolai had been informed of all that.

"I want you to build a statue of Freya in the square where the coronation ceremony was conducted, and one of her apostle Dogora as well."

'...'

"...Allen."

Freya listened from within the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi, and Dogora also reacted to Allen's request.

On top of Dogora being made pope apprentice, Allen wanted to honor the efforts and contributions of Dogora as well.

"Understood. I'll make sure that is done promptly."

Allen's voice had been serious about it, so he quickly answered affirmatively.

Maybe that would end up pushing some of Elmea's followers to start praying to Freya as well.

Nicolai rushed out of the room.

The rest of Allen's party entered the room and quickly took their seats.

Princess Shea, Lud, and Rath, also entered the room like they were part of the party, sitting down at the table.

They had also been present during the coronation ceremony.

The coronation of a pope apprentice was a big enough deal that she felt obligated to be present.

Shea would soon go to Clebeur though, to take part in another ceremony there.

Just like how the Holy Land had been saved, the king of Clebeur also wanted to celebrate the end of his country's strife.

The princess of Albahar, an allied nation, would be present too.

Apparently she had been in contact with them through Niel's communications device, and Clebeur had adjusted the ceremony's schedule so Shea could be present too.

"Alright, is there something you want to talk about, Sophie?"

As soon as everyone was on their seats, Allen spoke to Sophie.

He knew there was something she wanted to say.

She had not said anything so far, but now she seemed ready to talk.

"Yes, I apologize for a slight delay in communications. It took some time to prepare everything."

She had not known whether her suggestion would go through, so she had been holding back on mentioning it so far.

But now it was finally time to talk about it.

<em class="chakra-text css-0">Knock

Knock

Someone knocked on the meeting room's door.

Rath stood up and went to see who it was, replaceing an elf at the door.

"Hm? What do you need?"

"I have a message for Lady Sophiarone."

Saying that, he showed a letter.

Then walked into the meeting room, respectfully passing the letter to Sophie.

(I think I heard about this, there's multiple elves from Rosenheim all over the Holy Land acting as messengers.)

The Holy Land was the head of Elmea's Church, a religion that had spread through the world.

Because of that international nature, there were elves acting as ambassadors from Rosenheim.

Most of them had gathered in Niel after Theomenia fell under attack.

Sophie checked the sender name on the letter, then quickly opened it and read its contents.

"It seems King Arbus has reached a decision. Everything is in place then."

(Hm? So King Arbus sent that letter then.)

"King Arbus?"

"Yes, he's agreed to take part in Allen's Army."

"Allen's Army? What even is Allen's Army?"

Cecile had never heard about that before.

She wanted to know exactly what Sophie was talking about.

Allen remembered King Arbus mentioning some sort of alliance when they were there to defeat the Demon General in the oasis city of Luqoack.

At the time, Allen took it as simply joining the Five Continents' Alliance.

"We're establishing Allen's Army. The situation has reached the point where simply offering a little help to the Five Continents' Alliance isn't enough. The threat posed by the Demon King's Army is growing by the day."

"Hmhmm."

Allen listened attentively.

Sophie mentioned how every country and race was currently under different types of attacks.

Since every country was in a different situation, an international meeting would be necessary to reach an agreement for various countries to help each other, but that would take too long.

The Five Continents' Alliance did have a joint army that was trying to fight off the Demon King's Army, but they were quickly reaching the limits of their capabilities.

Sophia reckoned that Allen's current strength had already surpassed that of the Five Continents' Alliance.

That made her consider the option of building an army that would follow Allen instead.

"Just as an example, going to the Adventurer's Guild and formally accepting requests in exchange for money is no longer feasible."

Sophie believed they had to get rid of any form of delay in their operations.

"So that's why you think it's best if we have our own army we can order around ourselves?"

"Yes, I've been considering such an option ever since we went to the S Rank Dungeon, and watching Shea in action gave me a clearer picture."

At first she felt something was missing, but she could not tell exactly what.

Only by seeing Shea's army of 2000 beastmen she got closer to an answer.

"I see."

Shea also began to understand that reasoning.

"So I made a request from the Queen, and we formed Allen's Army with a thousand Spirit Mages, 1000 men with 2 Star Talents, and Gatoruga. A handful of elven generals will join too."

Spirit Mage was a 2 Star Talent, and there were a thousand of them, then the other thousand had different 2 Star Talents like Archers. Gatoruga was the strongest Spirit Mage in Rosenheim, having a 3 Star Talent.

"Gatoruga is coming too?"

"Yes. There's little point in having him sit idle in Rosenheim. The generals will help manage the army as well."

Gatoruga, Rosenheim's strongest Spirit Mage, was joining Allen's Army.

(Oh, that could be a big help actually. The sky garden still looks like a desolate island at the moment after all.)

Allen had decided to refer to the floating island as sky garden, even though it looked like a newly raised volcanic island.

He had already been thinking of replaceing some Spirit Mages to terraform it and allow plants to grow on it.

When Allen had mentioned that, Sophie said she would take care of it.

"The letter I just received says King Arbus had pleaded to send a thousand more Spirit Mages."

King Arbus, who reigned over the dark elves, only had roughly half as many people disponible as Rosenhiem.

He had gone to watch Allen's work in Luqoack to come up with a decision.

Most of the dark elves he sent had 2 Star Talents too.

Some of them were generals in King Arbus' army, but he mentioned in his letter that Allen would always have the highest authority over them.

"Do you plan on recruiting more people after this?"

Cecile asked what was on everyone's minds.

"Having more isn't always the best. There's a sweet spot of how many people are easy to control and order around."

"I see."

Rather than recruiting as many people as possible, Sophie decided it was best to expand as their needs required it.

The whole point was to make Allen's work easier after all.

"Now my question is for you, Princess Shea, are you coming with us? I'm sure you're aware of the dangers involved, but we'd appreciate your support as well."

Now Sophie asked Shea if she wanted to join Allen's Army as well.

(That would make sense, beastmen have a different fighting style that could be better in certain scenarios.)

Sophie asked Shea if she and her army were willing to join Allen's Army.

There were generals from both the elves and dark elves joining, but Shea had been leading her army for many years too, so her knowledge could be a helpful asset.

She was also more experienced with melee combat, and could use Skills without relying on spirits.

That would increase Allen's Army's potential, while also giving them a reliable frontline.

"Hmm…"

Shea had already been expecting that proposal.

Her army numbered around 2000.

(Well, if we make everyone in Allen's Army undergo a Talent Change, I'm sure they'll all be able to easily clear the S Rank Dungeon.)

Allen was already thinking of making everyone who became part of Allen's Army to undergo a Talent Change.

That would easily increase their stats by a half, and since they were born with 2 Star Talents, they would become stronger than if they had been born with 3 Star Talents.

Shea was still thinking about it as she glanced at Allen.

If she decided to accept the offer, she would essentially become part of Allen's party too.

That would mean Allen would be the one giving all the orders, not her.

"Lady Shea, if you join your chances at becoming Beast King might…"

While Shea debated on joining or not, Lud brought up the topic of the throne.

Her chances at inheriting the throne would become slimmer if she continued traveling with Allen.

"Allen, I have ambitions, high ambitions. I want to unify the continent, establishing an empire of beastmen."

"I'm listening."

She spoke slowly to Allen, as if trying to sort out her thoughts at the same time.

She explained what her motives were, what drove her to fight.

She told Allen how she wanted to expand Albahar into an empire, unifying all the smaller countries of beastmen, and secure the throne for herself as the first empress.

"So let me ask you this one thing, Allen, why do you fight against the Demon King?"

(Hm? Isn't that what you do with Demon Kings?)

Depending on how Allen would answer, she would decide on joining or not.

She wanted to know whether it would impact her own goals or not.

"Because he's the Demon King."

Allen answered quickly.

"Huh? Because…what? Could you explain your motives a bit more?"

Shea could not comprehend what Allen was trying to say.

Shea, Lud, and Rath, all sounded confused.

"I believe the Demon King is an entity that should not exist. That's all I really have to say, I want to kill him because he exists."

He had no grandiose goal like Shea.

"Wait, let me see if I understand. It's like when a group of orcs or goblins build a settlement near your home? So you go and kill them? Is that what you mean?"

She still could not understand, so she tried to come up with an explanation that resonated with Allen's early life.

Maybe it was similar to when foreign enemies set up camp near one's home, so they're cleared off.

That was the best way she could understand that.

"Ummm, I guess you could say that."

Allen felt like that was not exactly it, but also not too different.

"I see, so that's the position you see yourself in. The Demon King exists, so you'll defeat it. I understand, this is the first time my own ambitions have felt so small."

Shea understood Allen's motivations in her own unique way.

Allen was thinking of ruling the entire world.

In her analogy, the 'home' was the same as the world.

The Demon King had set up camp next to the world, so getting rid of him was like clearing a pest from his garden to Allen.

Allen and the Demon King were battling for who would control the world.

That also gave her a satisfying answer as to why Allen spoke with such little respect to the Spirit God, to the Goddess of Fire, and to the First Angel.

She was trying to establish an empire of beastmen, and the man who wanted to rule the world was asking her to be his ally.

"Lady Shea, what should we do?"

Lud saw Shea come to terms with something, so he asked her what her decision was.

"I'll join. You can use my men as yours. This might eventually help me reach my own goal in a different way than I expected."

Joining Allen could distance her from the throne of the Kingdom of Albahar, but it would make it easier to become an empress.

Being part of the world ruler's army would grant her a lot of prestige.

And the Demon King's Army that had tormented the continent for decades would be erradicated.

"Thank you very much."

Even though Allen was the topic of conversation, Sophie was the one thanking her.

Lud and Rath also bowed their heads, showing their continued support for Shea.

"Hmm. Moving on, shouldn't we give the floating island a proper name now? It'll be our main center of operations moving forward, so we should give it a name befitting the role."

Now that Shea had pledged her support, she felt slightly uncomfortable with the lack of a name for her new headquarters.

"You make a good point. Our headquarters need a good name. Master Allen, would you mind doing us the honor?"

"Huh? I have to think of a name?"

"Yes. Please choose a name to your liking for our future headquarters."

(Hmmm, we're the Abandoned Gamers and that'll be our main base, so Island of Exile maybe? Oh wait, most places here don't really use common words for names.)

Usually the names of countries, cities, and towns rarely used common descriptive words for them, instead having proper and unique names.

Island of Exile was not a bad name by any means, but he felt like it lacked personality.

(Hmm, we aren't necessarily doing any light work here, so to make that clear…)

It was no easy task to fight against the Demon King's Army.

That made a certain term from his past life pop up in his mind.

"I know. It'll be named Heavy User Island."

"Heavy User Island it is then. That'll be our new center of operations."

Allen decided to name the floating island that would become their new main base Heavy User Island.

The former members of the Evil Cult and the thousands of men from his army would live there from now on.

"We'll all wage war on the Demon King's Army now. My men will go all-out whenever you wish."

Shea sounded ready to do whatever it took.

"It seems like something new is about to start!"

Various countries and races put forward their soldiers, giving Allen full control over them.

Allen's eyes twinkled seeing that a new chapter was starting in his new life.