The Princess of War

by Hyougetsu

  I should have guessed he’d want to visit that restaurant. Everyone but me and Airia seemed excited to try it.

  “Ya sure cook up some interesting ideas, brat. I never thought to use cooking to expand my influence. Maybe Lotz should send some chefs to the demon capital too.”

  “My, if you wish to have a cultural exchange session, you can hardly afford to leave Veira out of it.”

  “Vaito, this place sounds neat!”

  But I just had lunch there...

  * * * *

  —Garsh and His Merry Pirates’ Feast—

  “Wahahaha!”

  Grinning, I take a hearty swig of my tankard. I managed to solve the problem of Lotz’s fishermen, so I can go back to Beluza with my head held high. I sweep my gaze over my men’s restaurant, then turn back to the table.

  “Whaddaya think, Veight!? Is Beluza’s food tasty or what!?”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  That’s all he says as he quietly wolfs down his roast duck. The duck comes with a heaping plate of Beluza’s famous vegetable stew. It’s chock full of delicious sun-dried tomatoes and sweet onions. In fact, no Beluzan dish is complete without those two. And now my boys have started mixing in Ryunheit’s food into their dishes to make them even more delicious. They’re making Beluzan-style food with Ryunheit’s fresh mushrooms, potatoes, chicken, beef, duck, and deer.

  “Is it tasty or what!?”

  “I just said it is. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

  Man, does nothing get this guy excited? Or could it be this guy’s such a connoisseur that even food like this doesn’t get his blood boiling? Come to think of it, the first time he ever visited Beluza, he already knew what sauce would go great with our food. I can never underestimate this guy. I used to think all demons were barbaric monsters, but I’ve already learned this guy’s a hero. I can’t let myself be biased. But I swear, Veight, one day I’m gonna show you food that knocks your socks off.

  After making that promise to myself, I glare at the old geezer Petore.

  “Oi, you like the food, don’t you!?”

  “Hmph, it’s alright I guess.”

  The old geezer frowns and pokes at his pasta. It’s got mushrooms and tomato sauce in it. Lotz is known as the gourmet capital of Meraldia, so getting him to even call it alright is a huge achievement. Any place he doesn’t straight up hate is bound to be a huge hit with normal people. I knew it, this place is awesome. I grin, and Petore glances up at me.

  “Dried tomatoes may be a powerful ingredient, but yer overusing ‘em. Every one of yer goddamn dishes has tomato something in it.”

  “Look, geezer, it’s hard to bring Beluzan goods all the way to Ryunheit. My chefs are working with limited ingredients here.”

  This was originally just a kitchen my men made to cook for themselves. When I heard they were pining for Beluzan food, I sent them as many ingredients as I could. But it looks like old man Petore’s not satisfied with that.

  “If yer serving Ryunheit’s people here, there’s no need to get so hung up on making everything Beluzan. Tell yer lunkheads they need to make better use of the local ingredients. If they don’t innovate, they’ll go out of style.”

  “Ugh...you’ve got a point.”

  Ryunheit’s a trading city so the residents are used to exotic foods. They’ll get tired of Beluzan cuisine in no time. Shit, I can’t believe I was so careless.

  “Think about it for a second, brat. Yer customers don’t care one whit about what yer boys wanna eat, they wanna eat what they wanna eat.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Dammit, I got lectured again. Just you wait, geezer, I’ll show you up one of these days.

  After calming down a little, I turn to Shatina and Firnir to see how they’re liking the food. Firnir’s gotten tomato sauce all over her face, and Shatina’s helping her wipe it off.

  “Hey, Shatina, this tastes great! What’s it called?”

  “This is a dish made by covering flatbread with cheese and tomato sauce. I believe its name was... wait, isn’t this dish from Lotz?”

  I stole that recipe myself. My ancestors were pirates. It’s in my blood to steal what I want. Anyway, I better give these brats some orange juice so they stop thinking about Lotz.

  “Oi, you brats. Have some Beluzan orange juice! It’s got rose honey in it!”

  “Wow! That sounds awesome!”

  Firnir stamps her hooves on the ground in anticipation. She may be a demon, but she acts just like any other girl. You know, I think I’m starting to like her. Oh yeah, that reminds me, how’s the other demon liking my men’s cooking? The noble vampire Melaine.

  “Hey there, pretty boy, are you inviting me to suck your blood? I can’t imagine any other reason you’d leave your neck uncovered.”

  It seems our “noble vampire” is dead drunk and trying to hit on Forne. He doesn’t seem the least bit interested in her advances though. All he cares about is the store’s cutlery.

  “Sorry, honey, but I’m afraid blood doesn’t run through these cold veins of mine, so there’s nothing for you to drink— Oh my, what a wonderful plate. If I’m not mistaken, this is from Veira’s Magiella Workshop. I would recognize such elegant use of sapphire enamel anywhere. No wonder it seemed quality.”

  He never misses an opportunity to advertise his city’s craftsmen, huh? Guess I can’t blame him, Veira produces some of the best-looking silverware. It’s even functional to boot. Their stuff doesn’t break even when handled roughly, so I could see why Veight got it for these guys, even if it is expensive. It burns to admit it, but Beluza can’t make ceramics anywhere near as good. When these guys used to work with our tools, they’d go through ten sets of tableware a day.

  But it’s weird. I’d heard when the demon army first invaded Ryunheit, they ruled it with an iron fist. I dunno what happened, but it definitely doesn’t seem like that’s the case. In fact, the city’s gotten even bigger. I bet it’s all thanks to Veight and his weird charisma. The kid’s an interesting fellow.

  “Oi, Veight, is this tasty or what!?”

  “Is that the only thing you’re going to say all night!?”

  * * * *

  Recently, I was busy not only with my duties as the Demon Lord’s vice-commander, but also my responsibilities as a member of the Commonwealth council. On top of that, I also had to mentor Shatina on how to be a good viceroy. Granted, the only thing I was qualified to teach was how to negotiate diplomatically. However, my biggest job was still keeping an eye on the Meraldian Federation.

  Incidentally, now that we’d declared independence and started calling ourselves the Meraldian Commonwealth, people had started referring to the Federation as the Northern Federation. Whereas we’d colloquially become the Southern Commonwealth. After all, it was hard to tell who was who if we just used the terms Federation and Commonwealth. They practically meant the same thing. However, the fact that this distinction needed to be made meant that the Meraldian Commonwealth was large enough that the north needed to take us seriously. This was less a secession, and more a reclamation of independence. I had little doubt the Senate was treating this as an emergency situation.

  Despite that, they hadn’t made a single move since the invasion of Zaria. Or at the very least, they hadn’t taken any military action. Unfortunately, we had too little information to go off of. The Meraldian Senate had forbidden the north from trading with us. As a result, our merchants could no longer bring us information. And since the demon army had no human spies, we had no one we could send to the north.

  As I was agonizing over how to proceed, Bishop Yuhit offered to have his Sonnenlicht Order help gather information for us.

  “Most of the people living in the north follow the Sonnenlicht Order. Furthermore, there are many among our followers who are critical of the Senate. I can ask some members of my congregation to make a pilgrimage north and learn what they can from such dissidents.”

  I’m surprised he can say those kinds of things with a smile
. Then again, I guess this is the same guy who incited 400 Thuvan residents to rise up. Of course I knew Yuhit wasn’t offering to help merely out of goodwill. Before he asked for a reward, I decided to offer him one of my choosing.

  “In order to ensure these pilgrims can travel safely, I’ll need to guarantee their protection. If you’re willing to do this for us, I’ll see to it that citadels are built along the trade routes in the Commonwealth. If any pilgrims feel themselves in danger, they can barricade themselves there.”

  “Thank you for your generosity. If possible, I would also like to secure the right for all religious pilgrims to be able to move freely within the Meraldian Commonwealth’s borders.”

  Though he acted meekly, this bishop drove a hard bargain. I didn’t have much of a choice but to accept. I needed information badly enough that I’d swallow most demands.

  “I believe that can be arranged, at least for citizens of the Commonwealth. Though I’ll need to discuss it with the council first.”

  Yuhit nodded amicably and added, “Oh yes, I almost forgot. I have one other request.”

  There’s more? Yuhit smiled.

  “Would it be possible to extend these same rights and protections to members of the Mondstrahl Church as well? I believe those who are pious should receive the Sun’s blessing, regardless of their faith.”

  He sure has changed. I smiled and replied, “Of course. So long as they don’t pose a threat to public safety or national intelligence, all pilgrims, regardless of their faith, will be free to use the citadels and move freely within our borders.”

  As I’d expected, the council saw no problem with granting Yuhit’s request. Thanks to that, both the Sonnenlicht Order and the Mondstrahl Church made me one of their patron saints. I realized the title was more a courtesy than anything, but I was glad to finally get one title that wasn’t about how bloodthirsty I was. Though it was a little embarrassing to be called a saint.

  While trade between the north and the south had officially been forbidden by the Senate, not all cities were willing to cut off trade. Doing so would cause too huge a hit to their tax revenue and the quality of life of their citizens. Though a few trade routes had become unusable, some level of trade still continued between the two. Which was probably why Mao came to visit me next.

  “There’s something strange going on in the mining city of Krauhen to the northeast. Though they continue to mine rock salt at the same rate as before, their merchants aren’t selling nearly as much of it.”

  “So what’re they doing with all the extra salt?”

  Mao shook his head.

  “That’s what’s strange. As far as I can tell, it’s not being used by the residents either. The only explanation I can think of is that they’re storing it all.”

  That certainly was strange. I decided to have Mao investigate in secret.

  “Keep me updated on everything that’s happening in Krauhen. If there’s trouble brewing in the north, I want to take advantage of it.”

  “Very well. But in return, I would like it if...”

  “Go on.”

  “Salt from Lotz has grown too expensive. Could you convince Beluza to create its own saltpans?”

  So he wants the two cities to start a price war and reap the benefits? Man, why is everyone around me such a scoundrel?

  However, Mao’s proposal was beneficial to us as well. Salt was a valuable resource, and since trade with Krauhen had become difficult, Lotz’s saltpans were our only reliable source of salt. If anything happened to them, we’d have a crisis on our hands. This was a good opportunity to ensure ourselves against that situation. Besides, Garsh would probably love to have his own saltpans. The problem was convincing Lotz to allow it. I’d likely have to give them something in return to get their agreement. Maybe some of the demon army’s technology would suffice.

  “Alright, I’ll ask the council to consider it. If they vote me down, I’ll find some other way to repay you. Is that fine?”

  “But of course.”

  With this, the demon army now had a way to monitor Krauhen as well as gather less detailed information from the rest of the northern cities. I had no doubt the Senate was keeping an eye on our movements through similar means. Though it wasn’t much, I was doing my best to spread false intel to keep the Senate guessing. Sadly this was the first time I or any of the other viceroys had engaged in intelligence warfare on a national scale, so we were all amateurs.

  After a few weeks, information started trickling in, both from Yuhit’s pilgrims and Mao’s traders. Slowly but surely, I was able to piece together what the north was up to. It seemed the north’s eastern and western cities weren’t as supportive of the Senate as I’d thought. Having failed in their invasion, the northeastern cities feared retaliation from Zaria. On the other hand, the northwestern cities were still recovering from the demon invasion, and were tired of fighting.

  Krauhen, which was on Meraldia’s northeastern tip, seemed especially dissatisfied with the Senate. Its viceroy had refused to appear before the Senate when summoned, causing friction between the two powers. However, I hadn’t been able to find out why. I found it hard to believe a single letter Lacy had sent to her family would be enough to cause such a huge uproar. The Senate was only able to exert influence over the north because it controlled the cities’ viceroys. If those viceroys started to rebel, the Senate would be in hot water. I just hope they don’t try to assassinate more viceroys.

  With such thoughts swirling around my mind, I headed to Zaria. I’d made a habit of visiting Zaria regularly, both to see how progress on the walls was going, and to give Shatina lessons on negotiating. She’d even prepared a personal office for me there, so it had become kind of like my forward operating base.

  “Master, you’re finally here! Zaria’s doing just fine today too!”

  “Ah, hey, Vaito! Shatina’s doing a great job here!”

  Why is it Firnir’s always playing around here whenever I visit? Does she even care about governing her city properly? I guess since she’s here, I’ll give her a lecture on proper negotiation tactics, too.

  “How come I have to sit here and listen too?”

  “There’ll be times where you’ll have to settle things without resorting to your spear and hooves.”

  Today I made the lesson about how to handle a situation where a criminal from Zaria escaped to Thuvan.

  “Firnir, let’s suppose this criminal’s a heinous murderer, but he’s also a skilled engineer. He comes to Thuvan seeking asylum.”

  Firnir gave me a confused look.

  “But he’s a bad guy, right? So I should just kill him.”

  “Not even gonna think about it?”

  This is why it’s hard to teach demons. Before I could reply though, Shatina butt in.

  “Wait, he’s Zaria’s criminal right? Then Zaria should be the one to deal with him! You should turn him over to us, Firnir!”

  “Aww, come on, that sounds like a pain.”

  “Fine, then if one of Thuvan’s criminals comes to Zaria we won’t hand them back to you either!”

  “That’s fine with me. If they’ve left Thuvan, they’re not my problem anymore.” Firnir replied with a smile. Shatina was speechless. I grabbed Firnir’s head and growled, “It very much is your problem! Come with me for a second!”

  I’d forgotten Firnir was an even bigger problem child than Shatina. As I dragged Firnir away Shatina looked up and muttered, “Master, I truly am inexperienced. If I cannot even negotiate the release of a single prisoner... then I have much to learn.”

  “Now that’s the kind of attitude I want.”

  I nodded in approval, and Firnir smiled at Shatina.

  “Good luck, Shatina!”

  “I’m not done with you, either. It’s high time you learned about human society.”

  “Vaito, that hurts! Owww!”

  I guess it’s still going to take some time before humans and demons can really understand each other.

  Afterwards,
I assigned Shatina and Firnir a new assignment. They were to try and convince each other to set today’s dinner menu to their preference. Shatina wanted legumes, while Firnir wanted potatoes. Whoever presented a more compelling argument for their particular dish would be rewarded by their desired dinner. Of course, what I was actually hoping was that over the course of the argument, they’d learn how to compromise. I just hope this works.

  Meanwhile, I’d decided to investigate something that had been on my mind for a while. Specifically, the spoils of war I’d won during Zaria’s defense. I was curious about the properties of that enchanted sword. Magicked weapons were difficult to mass produce, and took a lot of time and money to maintain. While they were extremely powerful, they were too costly to be standard equipment for soldiers. There must have been an important reason for that knight to have been given that sword.

  I wasn’t exactly an expert on magical weapons, but I knew how to analyze one at least. The spell to renew the weapon’s enchantment should be engraved somewhere on the sword, so I just had to cast that to see what it was. As expected, I found the spell carved into the sword’s hilt.

  I cast the spell, and a complex red pattern appeared on the sword’s blade. The center of the pattern formed a string of letters in the language of magic. Those letters were the enchantment’s function, while the rest of the pattern was the circuit by which the function was applied. While the circuit itself was too complicated for me to analyze, I could work out the general idea from the words.

  “Cut... Change? No, Transform... And Wolf...”

  Trying to read the pattern was like trying to read English, or ancient Japanese. I still had the dictionary Master had given me when I first became her disciple, and I used it to double-check my readings multiple times. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I teased out the spell’s meaning. This was a magic sword designed for slaying werewolves. It was no different from a normal sword when used against other demons, but against werewolves, it boasted strengthened cutting power. Even a normal human could inflict a mortal wound on a werewolf with this sword, so long as they managed to land a hit. The mere thought of being cut by this sent shivers down my spine.