A gasp of astonishment came from the crowd.
She wore a pure white dress decorated with gold thread and lace, and her simple ceremonial silver tiara was striking against her black hair. Obviously, she’d worn traveling clothes when we adventured together, but when she dressed like this, you could tell she was an honest-to-goodness princess. She looked like she’d gotten a little taller since last I saw her too.
As she stepped down onto the flagstone entrance path, she turned to face the bigwigs and lifted the hem of her skirt in a curtsy. “I am honored to meet you, people of Atessa. I am Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, special envoy from Saillune. I apologize for imposing on you, even for this brief time.”
Following Amelia’s introduction, the mayor of Atessa stepped forward. After a long and self-aggrandizing speech, he said, “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay in our guesthouse after your long journey. I’ll show you around if you wish, but... ah...” He cast a glance to me and Gourry. “Might I ask who those two are? They don’t appear to be part of your retinue...”
“They’re my friends,” Amelia said with a smile. “We happened to run into each other in the forest. I hear they’re helping out the local security forces. I have a great deal to discuss with them, so would you mind if I borrow them for a bit?”
At this, the mayor said, “Yes, certainly. Go right ahead.”
After all, what else could he say?
After that, Amelia and her retinue were assigned accommodations, and the intervening downtime before the night’s banquet was all we were allotted to catch up with her.
“The truth is, I came to Zephilia as a special envoy to deliver a message—and it concerns you two,” she said, sipping her aromatic tea and letting out a sigh.
“Um... is it okay to talk about that here?” I asked, reflexively keeping my voice down.
Amelia had been given a comparatively large room. Naturally, since this was a guesthouse, it was finely decorated with a thick carpet, tapestries on the walls, large tables and desks, and a beautiful canopy bed in the back... Though they did all look a little on the old side.
The table where Amelia, Gourry, and I sat had been set with tea for three, served by the guesthouse’s maid. She stood nearby, along with six soldiers accompanying Amelia—one in each corner and two at the door. Obviously, if Amelia explained her business here, they’d all overhear it. I was wondering if that was okay, but...
“Oh, no worries,” she declared with a smile. “The more people who know, the better. The kingdom wishes to share this information far and wide... for it concerns the existence of high-ranked demons.”
“High-ranked demons?” I whispered.
I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, but demons were monsters that fed off the negative emotions of living beings and sought to destroy the world. Lesser demons and brass demons were common fare, but there were stories of higher-ranked demons—namely an entity known as the Dark Lord (who’d been split into seven parts according to legend) and his five lieutenants, Hellmaster, Chaos Dragon, Dynast, Greater Beast, and Deep Sea.
And... Well, I guess I should just say it outright. Me, Gourry, Amelia, and another friend of ours had actually destroyed one of said lieutenants: Hellmaster Fibrizo.
Yeah, I know. I’m perfectly aware. Make a claim like that, and everyone’ll think you’re running a scam.
Some sorcerers didn’t even believe the Dark Lord and his lieutenants were real. They used spells that invoked the demons’ names, but rather than calling upon the beings themselves, they interpreted the practice as channeling a more nebulous source of power—or perhaps the laws of nature themselves. The idea that we’d met a lieutenant of the Dark Lord and actually destroyed him... I couldn’t blame anyone for doubting that.
In fact, when I’d reported it to the sorcerers’ council myself, I’d expected to be met with disbelief. And the reaction I’d been met with was... Yeah, exactly that. Whole lotta raised eyebrows. The questions I got were less “is that true?” and more “is she bragging, grifting, or crazy?”
Their perturbation was understandable, of course. I would’ve felt the same way in their position. But I swear it really happened!
“This is about... Hellmaster, right?” I asked Amelia. “You think anyone’ll believe you?”
“It’s important that people know high-level demons really exist, and that one of them has been destroyed,” she replied. “But most won’t believe it based on my word alone, so I explained things at home and asked the sorcerers’ council to prove it.”
“Prove it? How?”
“They verified that spells which call upon Hellmaster no longer work. That should be proof enough that the power source known as Hellmaster is no longer accessible. Granted, it doesn’t prove that high-ranked demons are independent beings that take human form, much less that one of them was destroyed by a human. But no one can dismiss the idea out of hand anymore. Our future depends on as many people as possible knowing what threats exist in this world and what form they take, so I’m going around to various kingdoms to present our findings. But because the testing took quite a bit of time, I’m only getting around to it now...” Amelia then smiled and said, “I was worried that it might take so long that you guys had already defeated another high-ranking demon in the meantime, you know? Ahaha...”
“Ahahahaha,” I laughed hoarsely.
“Ahahahaha.” Amelia laughed along with me. Then, still smiling, she said, “I see you no longer have your talismans, Lina... It made me think you might have run into some kind of trouble. And I think your laugh just now confirmed it.”