"Ah! Count Edrude, Countess Melphia. A pleasure, as always." The Copy Boze smiled as he greeted the Demon Nobles alongside his Copy family. "It's been far too long since we last met. How have Baron Melfia and his Wife been? I've heard she had a most terrible accident recently." He smiled warmly as the three of them maneuvered around the large ballroom giving pleasantries and rubbing elbows with dozens of Nobles as they arrived. There were well over a hundred people in the elaborate ball room, most of which were adults though a few children could be seen congregating together near the baked goods.

Copy Boze, on Akagi's orders, was instigating a 'rebellion' of Demon Nobles who opposed Silfana's installation as Demon King. Naturally, many were not a fan of an outsider, especially one tied to the Demon Lord, taking over, and he found many willing ears. It'd begun even before the confrontation at the Simoea Plains, and the Demon had two goals with her subterfuge plot. The first was to round up all of the Kingdom's opposition in one convenient place to make crushing it easy, and to make an example to keep the rest in compliance. The second and more important goal was to further envelop the rest of Enoris in her overall plan to crush the Gods in a direct engagement. Hence why they were attesting a large social gathering at Elector-King Kelira's estate in her provincial capital of Zoltan. It was a rather large city, not far from the border between the Confederation and the Kingdom, and due to its close proximity to Thin Ledhar and the Dwarven nation was highly industrialized and produced a good portion of the Kingdom's arms and armor.

Akagi guesstimated that the, as she would call it, Grand Alliance of Men and Gods wouldn't, or more realistically couldn't, turn a blind eye to rebellious Nobles within the Demon Kingdom who wanted to remain 'true' to the Gods. There were already plenty of Demon Nobles who had broken away from the central government in the Southeast of the northern continent long before the current upheaval, and the remaining Eastern Lords were dubiously loyal. Thus, when Silfana announced her ascension to the throne and purged many central Nobles in her bloody purge, those further away from the Royal core of the Demon Kingdom began to fear for their lives and quietly began raising the flag of rebellion. Copy Boze was a perfect agent for such a fire stoking mission as his low rank made him appear harmless to higher-ranking Noble families, and his 'ties' to Akagi were not known by anyone other than the former Elector-Kings that 'sided' with Akagi.

"It would seem most of the important players are here." Copy Margareta said as she came up alongside her 'husband' and opened a fan to cover her mouth. She'd been investigating the other participants and was carefully recording names of every Noble who'd arrived. "I'm surprised this many actually decided to show their face given that such an event gathers the opposition in one convenient place. I'd say they're being fare to blasé about this whole thing." The gathering was being held at Elector-King Kelira's estate and was not necessarily a secret event. The Demon Nobles were under the impression that Akagi/Silfana couldn't be bothered to keep track of such parties, which wasn't exactly wrong. Following that line of thought most figured that they'd get away with such a blatant meet-up because there was nothing outwardly problematic about it. That it was billed as celebrating the Elector-King's 212th birthday was merely a convenient cover story and served to provide an additional smokescreen.

{Even Prime Minister Redrud is here, now there's a surprise. I suppose his loyalty is and always will be to Demon King Lockheed, but to throw his lot in with a rebellious force like this...} (Copy Margareta)

"Though a few I'd like to see are not." Copy Boze said as he took a sip from his glass of wine, noting that while most of the important Eastern Nobles were here, two important ones were missing.

"You refer to the Elector-Kings Narmund and Vilich?" Copy Margareta asked as she took a drink from a passing servant. "I asked around, and it seems that nobody knows where they or some of the envoys from the breakaway regions are. Invitations were apparently received at their estates, but ever since the proclamation from the Capital, they've gone dark."

{Its not shocking that the Nobles of Mireton aren't here. They're defacto independent and aren't ones to get involved with the Kingdom's politics if they can help it, though I still would've expected an unofficial representative or two given the circumstances.} (Copy Margareta)

"Perhaps they were too smart to take the bait?" Copy Boze said as a gray-haired woman in a blue dress clinked her glass to get everyone's attention. "And there's the woman of the hour. Right on time."

“Kelira is nothing else if not punctual.” Copy Margareta chuckled as the Elector-King requested everyone's attention.

"May I have your attention please." Elector-King Kelira called out as everyone quieted down and focused on her. "Thank you. I wish to extend my most sincere thanks for your attendance here this evening. To have so many celebrating my birthday is truly an honor." She smiled as the attendees said a variety of boilerplate and generic pleasantries that were standard for this kind of thing. "It is unfortunate though that on such an auspicious day, I must deliver some tragic news." She said with obviously fake sorrow in her voice. “For you see my most dearest college and friend Elector-King Narmund was murdered by the one calling herself the new Demon King." Her words caused the guests to audibly gasp, and even the Copy family was momentarily surprised since they'd not heard anything about this. "Yes, I know. It's absolutely shocking. Narmund was truly a kind soul and he wanted nothing more than our people to work together in harmony as we work toward a better future. He even went so far as to swallow his family's pride to speak with this so-called Demon King directly. But tragically he was rebuffed by her and slain when he dared to call her out as the usurper that she was." She said as small tears fell from her eyes. "Those servants who survived his murder told me that even his most modest requests for things like assurances that our people would not be made the fight the Gods were rebuffed. Truly this monster who dares call herself the Demon King has no honor. Such a creature has no right to claim the throne, and I denounce any and all who claim her to be anything but the monster that she is. Tell me, am I the only one who seeks to stand up to this injustice?" Her question was followed by loud calls for Silfana's death and for vengeance.

"Have you heard anything about Narmund's death?" Copy Margareta quietly asked her husband. “Nothing in any of my reports mention anything about such a meeting.”

"I've heard nothing either." Copy Boze said as he clicked his tongue in irritation at having been outplayed by the Elector-King. "If he really was killed by Lady Akagi's forces or Lady Silfana, we'd know of it." He said while indicating to Sophie who was standing beside other Noble children to find out what she could from the younger Nobles. "I'll have her investigate the matter thoroughly. The question now is, who actually killed him? Though I suppose the answer is pretty obvious if you think about it for a moment." He said as Kelira continued to rile up the crowded room full of Nobles.

{Bumping off an Elector-King in such a deliberate manner would never even be considered if not for these trying times. Jerome's death already created a stir, but a second? I can't imagine his personal security took any chances. She must've had someone on the inside, especially since Narmund wasn't exactly weak.} (Copy Boze)

"Though, does this not play right into the plan?" Copy Margareta noted that further chaos was more or less what Akagi wanted. "A proclamation of this sort means the other Nobles will..."

"I'll make a report, but I suspect this will actually work in our favor." Copy Boze nodded as he took her hand and moved her out of the way of a Noblemen who wasn't paying attention and nearly bumped into her.

"My, my. Such a caring, Husband you are." Copy Margareta chuckled as Copy Boze looked away, flustered. They might've been copies but that didn't mean they weren't influenced by the memories of those who's place they took. "But yes, I suppose it will, and with such an obvious figurehead, we can avoid standing out too much. I'll admit I was worried that it would be hard to get them to take such a drastic course of action after what happened in Simoea. After all, who'd be foolish enough to take the fight to an entity that wiped out your entire army without even setting foot on the battlefield?"

"I wasn't. Nobles are schemers by nature, and I'm guessing that Kelira seeks to place herself at the forefront of whatever new government they seek to install if the Gods manage to defeat Lady Akagi." Copy Boze said as the Elector-King began to speak again.

"In honor of Narmund, we must resist occupation!" Kelira said to a cheering crowd. "The Demon Lord must never be allowed to subjugate our people! We are faithful children of the Gods who fought against our own creators to free ourselves from the darkness of oppression! If I must take up arms against tyranny as my ancestors did then I simply ask who will join me? Who will stand with me to save our people?" She asked to a roaring room, filled with voices of eager Nobles ready to resist the Demon Lord, the irony of the whole thing seemingly lost on most of them since they'd held back their troops from the Demon Lord subjugation force.

"She's good at managing a crowd, I'll give her that." Copy Boze said as he begrudgingly gave the Elector-King credit for her performance.

"Her family's oratory skills are well known. There's a reason they've been in charge of foreign diplomacy and domestic political management for centuries." Copy Margareta said. "Though I'd still like to know where Vilich is. It doesn't seem like she took him out too."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was far too engrossed in his workshop and simply couldn't be bothered to come." Copy Boze said as the Nobles began to disburse around the room and congregate in their small cliques. "She's coming over here now, we'll discuss more later." He said as Kelira approached them and offered her warmest regards. While it was not unusual for the party host to greet every single guest, an Elector-King generally did not speak with Counts before higher-ranking Nobles.

"Count Boze, Countess Margareta, I'm so glad you could join me today." Kelira said with a smile that the two copies returned. "I must say it is truly a miracle that you departed the Capital when you did. You must've been protected by the Gods' graces."

"Yes indeed, we left just a day before the others were summoned and killed." Copy Boze said as he faked a pain expression. "I must admit that I held out some hope that things wouldn't turn out that way, but something deep inside told me to leave the Capital, and I'm glad we did, otherwise..."

"I've heard that some of the Nobles were spared and are working with the Demon Lord's puppet ruler." Copy Margareta interjected. “It looks like they're assisting in the consolidation of her rule, and the Capital has gone relatively quiet in the days since.”

"They've likely been forced to work for her or face the same fate as the others. Truly a barbaric way of ruling, and certainly disqualifying for one who seeks the position of Demon King." Kelira said as she made comments about a true Demon King needing to be fair, just, and honorable.

"Speaking of the position of Demon King, with four of the Elector-Kings plus the Princess-Regent supporting this Vampire, I must admit we will have a hard time taking back our Kingdom." Copy Boze said, seemingly worried about how they'd face such a force. "The Royal Army was crushed and I do not even begin to hope that we can defeat a Demon Lord on our own. I daresay that we can't do such a thing with our current forces."

"Yes, that is something I've been agonizing over." Kelira said with a fake sigh and look of worry on her face. "Right now we're quite weak. Nothing more than a collection of Nobles with depleted forces. We could scarcely defeat Northwind let alone a force as powerful as the Demon Lord."

"If I might say though your words and attitude tonight indicate you have a plan to turn that around though." Copy Margareta prodded her for information.

"Indeed I do. If we're to win, we'll need help from outside the Kingdom." Kelira said. Her words would be no less than treason in any other time, but nobody seemed to care due to the dire circumstances. "Help that I've recently been offered from a certain backer. Rest assured that we will be getting the help we need." Her tone momentarily swapped to being sharp before reverting to normal.

{Oh?) (Copies)

"That is most fortuitous." Copy Boze smiled, knowing better than to pry for further information given the look in the Elector-King's eyes. "Well, rest assured that the Boze family stands firmly behind you, my Lady. If you need anything from us, just say the word and it shall be done."

"I shall be sure to let you know if anything comes to mind, and once again I am so glad that you could make it to this evening's events." Kelira smiled before she politely departed and began speaking to another group of Nobles.

"What are the odds her backer is..." Copy Margareta looked at her husband who returned a nod.

"These fools have no idea just how intricate the spider's web is." Copy Boze said before taking his wife's hand and ushering her into the party to enjoy themselves.

Spoiler

Kelira!

Zoltan Location

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