by J. J. Pavlov
"I don't want them to go there." The little dark elf replies with a distant look. "Rolan used to talk about killing the demon queen to bring peace to the world. I'm not sure whether or not he has changed that wish, although he hasn't talked about it in a while."
"Oh my. Should I have killed him when I had the chance?" The Ajura boss fakes a shocked expression and asks half in jest. While it's true that he caught her off-guard and disarmed her before she could even react, she doesn't seem too miffed by it. Maybe it still wasn't the full extent of her abilities.
"Maybe." But Kamii answers in an unexpectedly serious tone, which does surprise Chandra. She regards the little dark elf's profile but can't glean her emotions after having made that admittance.
Rolan and the others keep glancing back even as Ajurai has grown distant. Leaving Kamii behind weighs heavily on their minds, but they couldn't have dragged her along against her will. They don't understand why she so suddenly decided to stay, but maybe she feels more at home among the demons than humans who shun her for her cursed arm.
They're following Sigurd's guidance, who leads them northeast. There was a map of the Dominion in the longhouse, but they were obviously not allowed to take it along. Therefore, their only option is to rely on the bard's memory for this journey.
For now, they have to skirt the edge of the Degar steppes on their path toward Pontis Daemonis. According to Shugra, meeting a band of juvenile centaurs as a group of demons is already troublesome, but humans will definitely be attacked on sight. And the reason they're heading toward Pontis Daemonis is that there are small hidden villages nearby which provide the smuggling services for demons.
When considering the size of the Dominion, it will take them many moons to traverse the continent. Hreidunn even played with the idea to go back to the nightmare breeders and ask them for some steeds so that they can ride for at least a bit of the journey.
When they stop to have dinner, they do so silently; their supplies were provided by both ajura and other demons living in the longhouse. They have been receiving their hospitality for so long, and even though their parting seemed to be on a sour note, they weren't thrown out without a word either. Once again, they were shown that demons aren't the absolute evil that the Empire of Terminus makes them appear to be.
Although Hreidunn has been doing her best to avoid associating with them, she can't deny that they had meals and beds provided to them for free. Her view was the most rigid, but even she's slowly changing when she sees that Leif and Vigdis seem a little dejected after having to part from the demon friends they made in Ajurai.
Gram is still inconsolable as he keeps looking in the direction they came from as if hoping that Kamii had a change of mind and is running after them. But no such thing is happening, and they soon settle down for the night, with Leif and Sigurd taking the first watch so that the big man can go to sleep first.
When it's Rolan's turn, he tells Vigdis that she should sleep. They decided to have night duty in pairs as long as they're in the Dominion, but he's wide awake and vigilant. She reluctantly agrees and lies back down, leaving the leader alone in the moonlit night.
He looks up at the waning full moon and reminisces about all that has happened. How had they been so suddenly transported to the Dominion without a transportation circle? Did fate bring them to Ajurai? Who was the crone that opened his eyes to the potential within him when wielding Roshanee?
Looking down at the hilt of the Sword of Light, Rolan wonders what it was doing in the Lost Tombs in the first place. According to Chandra, it's one of the six swords with the same name, all wielded by her grandfather. And it supposedly never had the power to increase its user's physical abilities.
So why did it do that for him? After all, when others tried wielding it, they felt their strength sapped from them in an instant. It was as if the holy sword recognized only the first to draw it, and acted like a cursed item for everybody else.
But now he knows that it was never a holy sword, considering it was forged by demons.
"Kekeke... what hath thee so tormented?" Suddenly, the voice of the crone echoes like a whisper on the wind. Turning around to search for its source, Rolan finds the Stormcrow sitting on a nearby rock, legs crossed and surrounded by ravens that stare at him with eyes glowing in the dark.
Looking behind him, he finds that nobody else has awakened, so he walks over to her with quiet steps.
"What is this weapon?" Taking the sword off his belt and lifting it inside its sheath, Rolan asks the crone with a determined expression; he wants a definitive answer.
"'Tis but a catalyst. The power lies within thee." Cackling, the Stormcrow explains with a gleeful toothless grin. "Thou art the Chosen One. Believe, and thou shall fell even the plague of this age."
"What do you mean?" Although the leader has an idea of what she's talking about, he asks to gain certainty. After all, she's a demon.
"Demon Queen Pelomyx." The crone's answer is delivered with the gravity of somebody speaking of a god. But then she breaks out into an ironic smile that draws up her sagging cheeks and extends all the way to her milky blind eyes. "With thy power, thou shall free the world of her corruption."
"Isn't it a blessing for you demons, though? Won't many innocent demons die?" Anybody other than Rolan wouldn't be speaking those words in the same sentence. Even before Runa told him that there are demons living peacefully at the Royal Academy, he had considered the existence of innocent ones. Chloe being revealed as a demon only strengthened that impression at the time. After all, they had traveled together, and she had even saved Sigurd's life on the Bridge of Enleith. No, she had saved all their lives in Rathgolim.
"A curse to thee humans, a blessing to the demons. Both art sides of the same coin. The corruption of the chaos shall end this world." With a grand gesture of both her arms, the Stormcrow announces in a somber tone. She appears like a trickster, but this seems to be a grave topic even for her. "If thou merely watch in inaction, thou shall see what it means to let chaos run free."
As if she has nothing more to say, the crone abruptly raises her staff. The feathers on her robes begin to rustle from a ghostly wind, but the crows around her flap their wings in eerie silence.
"Wait, I still have questions!" Rolan raises his voice, upon which the tip of the crone's staff points straight at his face.
"Banish the chaos, lest thy beloved face her alone." The Stormcrow's words send a shiver down the leader's spine when he realizes their meaning.
"What do you mean? What happened to Runa?" He shouts over the storm of feathers that has begun to swirl around him and robs him of his view on the old woman before him. An ethereal cackling is all he gets in response, echoing in his ears as if coming from everywhere and nowhere.
Moments later, the wind dies down, and the jet black feathers fall like snow, revealing that the crone has disappeared once again.
"What happened?" Hreidunn calls out to the leader standing a short distance away from the camp. As always, she has chosen to sleep on a boulder from which she can overlook the area, and she's the first to spot Rolan. The others get up to their feet and look around in confusion.
"We need to go to Arkaim." He turns around and replies with a shaken expression on his face that catches everybody by surprise. The ranger then notices the black feathers around the leader, causing suspicion to rise within her.
"Did the Stormcrow appear before you?" She asks while scanning the area. The feathers are always left behind when the crone disappears, so the likelihood of spotting her nearby is nil. Still, she feels compelled to look for any clues as to how she followed them.
"She told me that Runa is in danger!" Rolan states in apparent agitation while running back to the camp.
"What did she say?" Sigurd asks, his voice filled with suspicion. The ajura said she's a demon who has lived many centuries and made predictions that all came true. Still, it's hard to trust anybody as elusive as the crone.
"That Runa will face the demon queen on
her own if I don't go there." Reaching his belongings, the leader quickly begins to pack as if wanting to depart right away.
"Hey, calm down." Gram pats him on the back but is ignored.
"I have to go!" Rolan shouts while roughly stuffing the small sleeping blanket into his backpack. Leif and Vigdis exchange a confused glance, and their aunt jumps down from her lookout boulder.
"What will you do when you reach the capital?" She asks with a skeptical look on her face.
"Search for Runa..." The leader replies absentmindedly as he closes his backpack and motions to shoulder it. That's when the big man suddenly grabs him from behind and lifts his feet off the ground in a bearhug.
"Calm down!" He roars, causing Rolan to snap out of his frenzy.
"Should we truly act on the words of a blind demon?" Sigurd inquires with a thoughtful expression. He looks completely serious, his brow slightly furrowed as he regards the leader with a keen gaze rarely seen in him.
"We?" Rolan asks while being placed back on his feet. At this question, everybody exchanges a surprised look with each other. It takes him a moment to realize what he just said, and he ducks his head in expectation of the storm coming for him.
"Yes, we." Gram places him back on his feet and slaps his back hard. The others agree with silent nods, silently implying that the leader had a big lapse in his thoughts. "Did you really think we'd let you do this alone?"
"I hope this will not lead to killing the demon queen, now will it?" Sigurd shrugs with an ironic smile. Considering the past moon here in the Dominion, they can all say that killing Demon Queen Pelomyx would be the most ungrateful thing to do after all the hospitality they received from the demons. Even if she's perceived as the enemy of humanity, it's no longer something for them to concern themselves with.
"No, we only need to go to Arkaim and find Runa." Shaking his head, Rolan replies. He no longer wants to kill the demon queen, now that he knows her existence is of such importance to people like Ammon and his family. And all this time that they've spent within her range of influence has taught them that her supposedly overwhelming corruption is nowhere to be felt.
"Why would she be there, though?" Leif mutters to himself while scratching his chin.
"Maybe there's going to be another campaign, and the new champions of the gods are participating this time." Vigdis raises her head as this possibility enters her thoughts. "We have been gone for a while, so we're out of the loop."
"Would they really make her fight in a war against the demons after only a few moons of training under the Lord Creator?" Gram wonders while crossing his arms.
"Whatever the case, I am sure it will not happen before you reach Arkaim." Sigurd turns to Rolan with this statement delivered in full confidence.
"How do you know?" The leader wonders while raising an eyebrow. While the bard is doubtlessly the most quick-witted among them, his certainty in this matter is surprising.
"It would not be a prophecy if you arrived much too late to sway its outcome, now would it?" Winking, Sigurd gives a strangely logical explanation that nonetheless doesn't sound too convincing.
Still, there's no way the group can march the distance to Arkaim without rest. The Stormcrow didn't sound especially urgent, so it was only Rolan's impression that he had to hurry.
"You're saying that we should rest properly, aren't you?" Smiling wryly, he asks while shaking his head.
"Indeed. We won't be able to help anybody if we arrive exhausted and about to collapse." Hreidunn leans against her boulder and adds with a sigh. "So let's go back to sleep. As far as I can tell, it's still the leader's watch."
Chuckling at her joke, the group slowly settles back down to sleep. Finally, as only Gram and Rolan remain, he exchanges a meaningful look with the big man.
"Thank you." The leader mutters with a smile, earning an amused wiggle of Gram's mustache in return. Then the latter lies down as well while Rolan looks up at the waning full moon, thinking about the journey to come.
Chapter 93 - Everyday Life With Monster Maids
"Umm, Chaos-sama. It would be better if You got down from there." Amerega pleads in a flustered tone. Seeing her nervous stirs the sadistic side in Asoko, so she enjoys watching the frog maid like this.
"What's the problem?" The Crawling Chaos shrugs with a roll of her eyes. She's sitting on the marble demon throne, legs dangling over the armrest on one side. When she looks across the throne room, she sees several other maids looking at her with similar expressions.
"Chaos-sama, if You would please stand up from the throne." Rewera's voice resounds from behind Asoko, upon which she flinches. Towering over the tall backrest is the maid leader, her dark-red eyes so intense that one could feel the pressure build in one's ears while looking into them. Although her expression is a neutral one, she manages to be as intimidating as if she were glaring.
Suppressing the urge to jump up, Asoko rises from the throne and acts as if she got bored of doing this. The truth of the matter is that she's feeling a bit rebellious, as she has been locked up inside the castle for two weeks - and will continue to be until her mother's return. Mithra made sure that she wouldn't go into town and cause trouble in the name of Chaos.
Hestia and Dregana left Arkaim the day after they first arrived, taking Senka with them to travel to Pontis Daemonis in search of the demon queen. According to Rewera, Queen Pelomyx always heads in the direction of the seaside fortress first whenever she goes on her inspection tour. They hope to meet her there instead of having to wait for however many moons before she returns.
Hestia refused Mithra's offer to transport her there, as she felt that he might have her meet an accident mid-teleportation. The only reason they can still catch up with the queen is that there are several cities along the way, which she will visit before finally arriving in Pontis Daemonis.
Ninlil and Tamariki are still living in the castle, but the former is quite elusive and appears to avoid Asoko. The latter follows Rewera around whenever she's allowed to. Otherwise, she goes to the fighting arena, where she has become the champion within a few days since her first appearance.
The Crawling Chaos never learned what Tamariki's relationship with the maid leader is. The latter remains tight-lipped, and Tamariki doesn't seem keen on telling either. There must be something deeper going on between these two, but she knows that neither of them wants to reveal anything.
Daica has set up a workshop in one of the empty cellar rooms, though she's more often learning various household skills from the maids. She has especially taken a liking to a maid called Airiunne, the head chef of Arkaim castle's huge kitchen. Outside of cooking, she asks the maids who have a natural venom or mucus to provide her with samples for her alchemical experiments.
That's also how Asoko first met some of the maids normally only active at night. One of them is Gilmirin, a unique demon that secretes a highly corrosive purple mucus from her black tentacle hair, which is of particular interest to Daica.
Gilmirin appears to always wear a black latex bodysuit that leaves only her pale white face, hands, and clawed feet exposed. In reality, both the suit and the white parts are her natural naked skin. She completely forgoes the maid uniform except for a frilly bow on her head since her skin is incredibly sensitive to the touch and easily chafed by fabric. Two massive hand-like wings grow from her hips that she can both use to grab things or fly with.
Thinking back to their first encounter, the Crawling Chaos revels in the memory.
"T-thank you for your c-cooperation." Daica nodded her head in a grateful gesture. The tentacle-haired maid just finished dripping her mucus into a container made from pure silver - the only material that didn't get corroded by its strange properties.
Gilmirin replied with a silent nod of her own, seemingly even more nervous than the big dark elf. She's one of the maids collected neither for her abilities in housekeeping nor her combat prowess. Instead, she was a never-before-seen demon which one day appeared in a far-off corner of the Domi
nion without parents and no memory of how she got there. Demon King Aldeath was the one who found her and took her in, making her more than thirty years old.
He ran a government program to find unique, parentless demons and give them shelter in Arkaim. It was then continued under his wife, Queen Pelomyx. That was the reason why the capital was the most racially diverse in its population among all other cities in the nation.
In a way, she had been employed as a member of the Maid Corps solely for being eye-candy. Her slender but curvaceous body and her tentacle hair that always covered her mouth as if to hide it was indeed a sight to behold.
When Gilmirin turned to leave Daica's alchemy workshop, she noticed Asoko standing in the doorway. Her expression suggested that she didn't recognize her, meaning she never met Chaos before either.
Looking around with flustered violet eyes, the demon maid sought a way out without having to speak to the newcomer. Of course, being a cellar room, there was no other way than to go through the doorway now barred by a person she didn't want to approach, so she was frozen to the spot.
"Hey, what's your name?" Walking over to the winged demon, Asoko gave her a smile and extended a hand toward her hair. Gilmirin shied back, glancing left and right as if searching for a way to escape this predicament. Seeing that, the Crawling Chaos employed a soothing tone one would use to speak to a frightened animal. "It's alright, I won't hurt you."
"B-b-but I will h-h-hurt you." Came a barely intelligible stutter from behind the tentacles covering the demon maid's mouth. It sounded even more severe than Daica's and was delivered in such a quiet voice that if they hadn't been in an echoing cellar room, her voice wouldn't even have reached Asoko.
"Don't worry. I'm hardy." She replied in a reassuring tone and transformed her extended arm into the true appearance that Chaos has. Since her Crawling Chaos form was red and appeared to be melting for some inexplicable reason, it distinguished her from the real thing. Even if Gilmirin wasn't there in the morning she first woke up in this world, it was too high a risk to show any discrepancies with what was commonly known among the maids.
