“Uhhh...”
“Hmm?”
“What...are you doing to me?”
“Pinching your cheeks because you wouldn’t wake up.” The girl before her—the Demon Lord, supposedly—tilted her head as she continued pinching Ariel’s cheeks like a curious child.
None of this made sense. Ariel desperately replayed her memories, seeking to make sense of this situation—she’d regained her consciousness, wondering why she wasn’t dead yet, and slowly opened her eyes when she’d felt something on her face—which led them to the previous conversation.
“Are you Hero Ariel?” asked the Demon Lord.
Ariel warily narrowed her eyes. “Why are you asking?”
“I got your name from Dian.”
“How do you—?!” It was only then, when she finally tried to move, that Ariel realized her hands and feet were sealed in ice. Looking around, she realized their outpost wasn’t faring much better; even the walls were completely frozen.
“Now that you’re awake, we can finally negotiate.”
“‘Negotiate’...?”
“Mm-hmm. I came here because I wanted your help with something.”
“I refuse,” Ariel said immediately. “If you really are the Demon Lord, then you are the enemy of Altane and all of humanity. I’ve no reason to negotiate with you.”
The Demon Lord hummed. “Even if that means everyone here will die?”
“Every one of my soldiers has come here with the resolve to die. If your plan was to take a hostage—be it me or anyone else—then too bad for you, that won’t work.”
The Demon Lord pursed her lips and stared at Ariel with furrowed brows. Ariel resolutely met her gaze head-on. After a long silence, the Demon Lord slowly nodded and mumbled, “So...what do I do now?”
“Why are you asking me?!” Ariel snapped.
“Dian told us, ‘Ariel looks and talks like some no-nonsense military woman, but she’s actually a bit of a ditz, so it shouldn’t be too hard to win her over.’ But now...”
“Is that really how he saw me...?”
“He also said that you care for your allies, so I thought you’d at least hear me out if I said that...but you refused. Hmm, what to do...”
Ariel squinted. “There is no conversation to be had with someone holding my soldiers against their will.”
“Okay. Then will you talk with me if I let them all go?”
“Hah... Do you hear yourself? Why would you throw away your bargaining chip?”
“Why not, if it means you’ll hear me out? Besides...” The Demon Lord shrugged. “None of you can beat me anyway.”
Her words were neither a bluff nor a brag, but a simple and undeniable fact. None of the people in this outpost, not even Ariel herself, had managed to react to the Demon Lord’s spell, much less resist. They were still alive right now only because she willed it.
“So, I’ll release them if you’ll hear me out. You can decide whether or not to accept my proposal afterward.”
Ariel sighed. “Very well. If you release everyone unharmed, then I promise to hear you out until the end without making any moves.”
“All right.” With a snap of the Demon Lord’s fingers, the ice around Ariel’s hands and feet, as well as the frost coating the walls of the room, all melted and faded away.
Ariel shot her a dubious look. “You actually did it.”
“Because you promised... Oh, you must be cold. Here, have some milk tea.” The Demon Lord reached into empty space and pulled out a teapot and two cups.
“And you’re even serving me tea...”
“It’s lukewarm, though. Just the way I like it,” she said as she poured them a cup each. With such leisurely behavior, Ariel could almost believe she’d come here just for a tea party.
The door to the room slammed open, shattering the bizarrely idle air in the room. “Lady Ariel, are you okay?!”
Ariel turned her gaze to her subordinate. “Trix, make sure everyone in the outpost is safe. Do not inform them or the capital of what you’ve seen here. My orders are to stand by.”
Trix’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the Demon Lord seated across from Ariel, but for no more than a second—she swiftly bowed her head and left the room.
Eluria nodded. “Thanks for that.”
“It is the bare minimum courtesy I can offer, since you released everyone practically unconditionally.”
“Okay. Here’s your tea, by the way.”
Ariel squinted skeptically at the cup offered to her. “This isn’t poisoned, is it?”
“Your caution is commendable. Fortunately for you, I wouldn’t poison your drink”—the Demon Lord’s eyes narrowed into a cold and piercing stare—“just because your father poisoned mine to strip me of my mana.”
After the Hero and the Demon Lord had jumped back to the past, the humans of the First World had devised a plan to kill Eluria Caldwin before she could become the Demon Lord—and the person who’d accepted this mission was Ariel’s father. He had led his troops to the past, assassinated Eluria Caldwin, and brought Viteos Altane and the Hero’s sword back to their timeline. His praiseworthy feat had granted their world its one last string of hope and had even helped earn his daughter a position as a Hero later on.
Ariel’s father had struggled through a series of tireless efforts and hard-earned achievements, all to fulfill their house’s dearest wish: to restore their family’s tainted reputation. The bleak smudge upon their house’s name had withstood the passage of time and the gradual destruction of the world, subjecting their family to living year upon year in Altane with their heads hung in shame. But through her father’s sacrifice, Ariel had been selected as a Hero candidate and proven compatible with the Hero’s power, finally earning their family the recognition of the state.
Their misfortunes had all started over a thousand years ago, when they had still been a prominent household in one of Altane’s enemy nations.
“Now then...” The Demon Lord’s clear gaze seemed to bore right through her. “Shall we talk...Ariel Verminant?”
That was the name her family had earned while serving the nation of Vegalta...and the name they’d dragged through the mud the moment they’d double-crossed their homeland for Altane.