With Claire’s help, our efforts to create battle-ready bodies for the two of them had made dramatic progress. Securing materials to work with while keeping Fort Aurora a secret had been quite difficult, but Claire had been quick to point out that demonic flesh would be the best material we could hope for. With all my training, I had tons of flesh lying around in the form of lost limbs. Thanks to Liliana, we had an effectively unlimited supply of the stuff. Though she had brought it up, the whole thing left Claire evidently rather disgusted.
“Never thought I’d come across someone crazier than the professor. I want better for my Alex,” she had complained. But by now, that was starting to sound more like a compliment.
Most of the time, Claire stayed dormant at my side. Whenever I visited Fort Aurora, I’d wake her up and she would go to her study to delve into her “research.” While she was very much my ally, Ante still kept an eye on her from outside the room. If Claire wanted to, she could easily whip up a low-level undead to send a message to Enma.
But if Claire had really been on Enma’s side, she wouldn’t have saved those humans in the autonomous zone. And once one was in spiritual form, it was impossible for them to hide their true feelings. Her laughing and crying with me had been indisputably how she really felt. That said, there was still the possibility she was being controlled, or that some kind of mental manipulation would trigger once she was alone. So, with Claire’s permission, we had decided to keep her under watch.
Speaking of Enma, we had a little chat about Claire...
“What?! Claire saved the people of the autonomous zone?!”
“Yeah. While I was trying to bring her back to the castle for a proper interrogation, Claire started struggling. Layla was carrying her and, uh... Let’s just say Layla had an instinctive reaction to use her breath.” I had then handed Enma a bag of ash. “So, unfortunately, the best I can do is return to you what used to be Claire.”
That was the story I cooked up. As much as I really wished I could have studied Claire’s body, it would have been a huge pain if someone witnessed me bringing her body back, so I had Layla incinerate it. That bag of ash was what remained of Claire’s body, so that part was at least the truth.
There had been a lengthy stretch of silence as Enma just stared, her pasted on smile unwavering. No doubt she had been going over every possibility in her head. If she believed me, then Claire had not only betrayed her but also attacked the direct subordinate (and lover) of a demon prince. What an awful situation to be in.
If she didn’t believe me, I could have dissected Claire’s body myself and destroyed all evidence by incinerating it. The worst-case scenario in Enma’s eyes had likely been that I had drawn out as many of her secrets as I could by interrogating Claire.
While Enma was leagues ahead of me as a necromancer, Liliana was living proof of my ability to control the minds of others. It had to be unsettling from Enma’s perspective. She almost certainly had measures in place to prevent Claire from leaking critical information, but she had no way of knowing how those measures stacked up against my powers.
“And in fact, you did glean quite a bit from that childhood friend of yours,” Ante said in an amused tone. She had a point. Claire hadn’t said anything directly, but by reading her expressions and tone, I could make a lot of educated guesses.
For example, Enma’s ultimate objective was not the extinction of humanity, but the erasure of life itself. When I had posed the question to Claire for confirmation that Enma wanted to wipe out humanity, she had looked away with a grimace, so I was pretty sure of that. But it wasn’t like I’d ever expected Enma to kick back and relax once humanity was gone.
If she assumed I had figured all that out, it didn’t make sense why I was still being friendly with her. If a demon prince discovered that she planned to bring harm to the demons, they would exterminate her without a second thought. Continuing this charade of friendship was pointless. I had a direct line to the Demon King himself, so I could have him purge Enma’s entire palace at the snap of a finger if I wanted.
But I hadn’t done that. I had come to see her like any other day. There was nothing for me to gain by stringing Enma along after learning her true objectives. So did that mean I hadn’t interrogated Claire? Or perhaps I had tried and failed, unable to draw out any useful information? That had likely been the conclusion she’d reached, if she’d thought things through logically.
But in reality, I did have a reason to string Enma along. If Enma was ultimately planning on going to war against the demons, I was one hundred percent behind her! Of course, there was no way she could ever predict that a demon prince would be plotting the downfall of the demonic kingdom!
“My deepest apologies for the utter failure of my subordinate!”
Enma had fallen to the ground, bowing at my feet. She’d spared nothing in her attempt to prevent me from getting angry with her, all without a care in the world to what her display did to her favorite clothes. In her position, with the information she had, that had been the optimal response.
“Oh, don’t be so formal. You’re going to ruin those beautiful clothes.” I’d smiled, lifting Enma back to her feet and brushing the dirt off of her. Enma was usually so casual and friendly around me, but that was obviously a front to try and curry favor with me, since I was a demon prince and all. Why was I so confident in that assessment? When I had asked Claire if Enma actually liked me, she grimaced again, just like before. This was all no more than an act!
“Come on...” Ante groaned.
What is it, Ante? Sounds like you have something to say.
“L-Lord Zilbagias...” Enma had spoken up.
“When it’s just the two of us, you can drop the ‘lord.’ I’m not big on formality. Don’t worry, I’m not angry or anything. Though I will say I was a bit surprised to learn you provided your subordinates with so much freedom,” I had replied to Enma’s contrite demeanor with a lighthearted shrug. “If it were me, I would have placed a tighter bind on their thoughts and actions. Do you put any restrictions on them at all?”
I had tried to sneak in a question under the guise of a joke, but Enma’s reply had been just as evasive.
“Yeah, I suppose I do give them a lot of freedom.”
She was careful, I’d give her that. Anyway, if this incident caused Enma to tighten the chains on her subordinates, that could serve to sow seeds of discontent among them. Even if not, limiting their ability to act freely would make things easier for me in the long run when it came time to fight them.
“I’ll be more careful in the future, I swear. I’m really sorry, Zil...” she’d apologized again, giving up nothing. And she hadn’t been acting all clingy and sappy like she usually did either. She must have really been on guard.