Two humans leading a dragon, Fenrir, and Cait Sith. Plus a donkey. Such a party would draw so much attention walking through a human city, but not in Gannes. There were dark elves, Hellions, Demons, and even human-animal hybrids. It was like a melting pot of humanoid species. In fact, Ruey and I were the odd ones out.
...We weren’t about to get snatched and eaten, were we?
“...I don’t sense any ill intentions, Sir Eiji,” Ruey said after carefully observing our surroundings inconspicuously while pulling the donkey’s reins.
“I sense curiosity. Perhaps that dark elf—Cielz, was she?—may have a considerable position in the army.”
“That makes sense.”
She did have complete authority over the life of one of their battalion leaders. That was a display of the Demon Lord’s trust in her, as well as in her powers to complete the mission without fail and to not make any incorrect decisions. Considering that she was working solo, I could imagine how deep the trust ran.
Us bureaucrats, for example, generally don’t work on our own. We are always in a pair or a larger group. Alone we wouldn’t be able to recover well from mistakes nor would we have anyone to hold us accountable. Especially when handling any money, even pocket change, we would always be in a group of two or more.
By the same token, the Demon Lord was confident that Miss Cielz would never compromise her work nor make any mistakes, even when acting on her own. It may seem trivial, but this was important.
“Mm. If I left you alone, I would be worried sick that you might drop dead from anything.”
Tiamat threw this jab in. Well, I’m sorry you can’t trust me to survive on my own for even a minute.
Great. The rest of our party was nodding along now. Even Mister Donkey. I was no fool, so I didn’t rush in where angels feared to tread. Know yourself and know your enemy to survive a thousand battles.
“We would be at ease if you just chickened out to somewhere safe, but you always have to stick your nose into the frontline, Eiji.”
“Our tribulations may never end.”
Tiamat and Hieronymus chuckled at each other.
Oh, laugh it up.
We walked down the streets, all buddy-buddy. We were never stopped for any questioning or anything. We weren’t welcomed nor turned away. What an awkward feeling.
Eventually we reached the castle gates, where there wasn’t a single guard. Wasn’t this a little too naive of them?
“Cielz sent a Thought Speech, so the monsters are standing back. For now.”
Tiamat explained the trick for me. While I was grateful, Ruey was made a fool for keeping his guard up.
“In any case, I would not have let my guard down anyway.” The Earl’s heir smiled.
What a nice guy.
“This way. Our lord will see you.”
Paying no mind to our comedy routine, Miss Cielz led us down the wide hallway. Since the castle was originally built for humans, it might have been a little cramped for the large magibeasts, but the architecture still provided ample space. I nearly couldn’t believe that it was constructed over a hundred and fifty years ago. It seemed like it had always been properly maintained.
The giant doors opened without a sound, revealing a red carpet down the center of the space, leading to a set of steps that ascended to the throne. On said throne sat the current Demon Lord.
I spotted the black hair, as Miss Cielz had informed us. The silky straight hair, however, reached down to the middle of the Demon Lord’s back. The Demon Lord’s irises were black inside eyes that popped. All right. You know, I had expected the Demon Lord to be male. For some reason. I mean, it’s not rare in light novels for the Demon Lord to be a young woman.
She was clearly Japanese and probably high school-aged. She stared at us, expressionless. I would have appreciated some sort of surprise, or smile, or scorn. Being unable to read anything from her expression was pretty stressful.
Miss Cielz left our side and stood beside the throne. Perhaps that was her usual position. And there she went, whispering something into the Demon Lord’s ear. We, on the other hand, didn’t kneel nor look down. We didn’t serve her, and we never planned to.
“A pleasure to meet you. My name is Eiji.”
Still, I spoke with a pleasant tone. Not one I would address royalty with, but one I would use to ask a visitor at my office if I could help them with anything.
The Demon Lord had been staring at me as she listened to Miss Cielz’ report. Then, she suddenly spoke:
“Die.”
In an instant, I felt a stabbing pain. I gripped my left chest with my hand.
“Wha...?”
My mouth gasped like a suffocating goldfish. My vision was fading.
Am I going to die again? Already? But this time, it’s for real.
“A Kotodama. Elevated to a curse.”
Tiamat patted my back. That’s all she did. Then I could breathe easily and my chest pain vanished.
“Tia...”
“Don’t sweat it. I won’t let you die while I still stand.”
“...Does that apply if you’re on all four paws, Tia...?”
“You’re well enough to jest. Good. Stand back a moment.”
With that, she stepped forward, her tail slapping against the castle floor. That’s the way her tail moved when she was mad.
...How did I get to the point of reading her mood by how her tail moved? Isn’t it scary how far we can adapt?
“What was the meaning of that, lass?”
Tiamat’s tone was as cold as a gust of wind piercing through Sapporo in the dead of winter. Wind chills of negative 20 degrees Celsius. Uh oh.
Hurry up and apologize, Demon Lord!
“Shut up. You die, too.”
Another Kotodama.
“Did you not realize from our conversation that your words won’t affect me? Perhaps you’re the type that has to try anyway.”
Tiamat piled on, completely unbothered.
“Why...?!”
“It’d be a waste of time to keep doing the same thing, so I’ll explain. Magic-Proof, I believe it’s called. No magic, or curse, will affect me.”
She continued to approach the Demon Lord without a care.
“Don’t! Stop!”
“I won’t.”
I assumed that this command was also supposed to be magical. Despite Tiamat being completely unaffected by it.
“A little wild lass, are we? Trying to curse to death someone you’ve never met before.”
Right. ‘Wild lass’ was a lot, coming from a woman who had turned into a dragon.
“Gr... You...!”
A sword materialized in the girl’s hand. A pitch-black, really insidious-looking sword. With one move, she leaped from the throne and went to stab Tiamat. She was so fast that Ruey beside me let out a grunt in acknowledgment.
“Hmph.”
The dragon spun around. With velocity, her tail ripped into the Demon Lord’s side. The girl was blown away at a comedic speed, crashing into the wall of the throne room.
“You’re fast, but wide open. Stand, lass. I’ll make you pay for your attempted murder of my partner,” Tiamat announced to the Demon Lord crawling on the ground, looking down on her. She was so scary that I wasn’t sure which of them was the Demon Lord anymore.
The girl did not stand. She had let go of her sword, and had curled up with her head clasped in her hands. She seemed to be terrified by the overwhelming show of violence. I sympathized. There was something off about Tiamat as a creature.
“I said stand. Can’t you hear?”
The dragon approached the girl, who let out a quiet cry. The dragon’s enormous jaw gaped open, and moved closer to bite off the Demon Lord’s head...