Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure Chapter 2040: Not surprised anymore

"One thing after another, right?"

Expressions like that showed up on the faces of every representative from the racial alliance as the meeting kicked off.

Even though the details weren't out yet, nearly all of them had pieced together that this whole situation tied back to me. On top of that, they probably suspected I was the main reason behind it all.

So, surprise wasn't really in the cards for them anymore.

A better word for the expressions they wore was plain old frustration.

Still, that didn't stop their curiosity about what I had in store for them.

"How many of these can you supply?" A rep from one of the smaller nations threw out that question.

Right after those words landed, reps from other nations of similar scale suddenly looked more alert, hanging on for the response.

After all, this hit right at the heart of concerns for those smaller nations.

While the big nations had their own tricks to handle the forces of Destruction, these little ones lacked those heavy-hitting tools.

They couldn't hold their ground against the forces of Destruction the way the giants could.

Naturally, grabbing these weapons for self-defense made total sense for them.

"We're figuring it out right now. No clue on the final numbers yet, so we'll update you when we do." My reply dodged a straight answer.

This wasn't some dodge to shut down the questions—it was just the honest state of things.

Truth was, we were experimenting with various production approaches.

One approach involved me handing off a bit of my divine energy to Queenie for her to manage.

Turns out, the contract between us let me channel my divine energy into her. Using that plus her own divine energy, she could fill up the molds.

Once the molds got that divine energy, it acted just like I was handling it myself, so no need for me to stick around. Hand it over to Queenie, and she could run a full production setup by herself.

Not that she was thrilled about being tied down to the task.

I'd caught plenty of grumbles from her before heading out to this gathering.

But give her the proper push, and she'd pitch in with some effort.

Plus, I could see her scheming to offload the job onto the bugs under her command.

That idea still needed trials, though—we had zero intel on whether it'd pan out.

So yeah, no solid answer from me at this point.

The smaller nations' reps weren't thrilled with the vague response, especially since it touched on their homeland's safety, but they got that pressuring me wasn't an option.

They knew our rank difference in the racial alliance, and I was the sole source for this stuff. Bottom line, they had no leverage to argue.

"We'll skip the first round and route them straight to the smaller nations." The Holy Empire's rep floated that idea.

It didn't take much time before reps from the other empires and big kingdoms nodded along.

They understood the power gap with the smaller nations, so backing them up felt like the right move.

But one holdout stood apart in all this.

The Solar Kingdom, usually on board with my every suggestion, wasn't playing nice this time. They were the lone big player refusing and demanding their share under racial alliance rules.

Something deeper was brewing beneath the surface, though nobody called it out.

In the end, their ask stayed within the racial alliance's standard terms, so objecting wasn't really feasible.

That said, plenty of folks clearly bristled at the Solar Kingdom's stance.

I had a hunch about their motives, but I also grasped their tough spot. Their easy abundance wouldn't last forever, so this was their way of shielding what they had.

Brushing that aside, the rest of the talks flowed without a hitch.

Actually, it went almost too easy.

All thanks to the total quiet on the front lately.

"Still no trace of the forces of Destruction?"

That wrapped up the final point raised in the meeting, and as soon as it came up, grim looks spread across every face.

Nobody wanted to dive into this because there was zilch to say, and that lack was the real issue.

Ever since the last incident, the forces of Destruction had vanished like smoke.

Without knowing they'd strike back eventually, folks might've figured the threat was done for good. It was like the forces of Destruction had wiped off the map entirely.

"Stay vigilant for any signs and we'll keep hunting them down." I let out a sigh as I wrapped it up.

The rest of the reps went along with it, though their doubt about any breakthroughs hung heavy.

The deeper the forces of Destruction burrowed into hiding, the creepier it got.

Nobody had a clue what massive plot they were cooking up...