“Who the hell are you?”

  I know people called him majesty and are kneeling towards him but he's not my king. I didn't vote for him or something.

  “Eh?”

  The guy seemed shaken for a second, but collected his composure almost immediately.

  “Ah, allow me to present myself, I’m King Arthur, the eighty seventh king of the country of Aldrid”

  “I feel like I’ve heard the name Aldrid before...”

  “M-Marisa, that’s here! This is Welst, the bordering town in the Aldrid kingdom!”

  Heather whispered to me in a low voice and yet it felt rather loud in this silence for some reason.

  “Oh!”

  So he’s the king, king! Not whatever the fuck the piggy is.

  “Is this yours?”

  I asked, lifting said piggy by the neck.

  “Ahaha! Yes, sadly, but before anything, isn’t it basic etiquette to introduce yourself after someone introduces themselves, no?”

  “Oh, the name’s Marisa, and I’m actually quite grateful for you showing up around here”

  Tossing the piggy aside, I said with a smile on my face.

  “Grateful?”

  “Yeah, you saved me the effort of looking for you! Now your crown, hand it over”

  I know that this is probably the worst possible timing but, I would be dumb to let an opportunity like this pass through my fingers.

  “You’re quite funny Marisa”

  “It’s not a joke”

  “Oh I’m sure it isn’t, but unfortunately I can’t give it to you”

  “Oh~ aren’t you gutsy, maybe you prefer I take it from your corpse?”

  I just love how everyone it’s looking at our conversation completely dumbfounded, unable to utter a word, given only Celestial and me were the ones that didn’t bow our heads, made me think Celestial would oppose or say something but she’s just looking on the sidelines with her poker face.

  “Let me warn you, I’m no pushover”

  Waa! h-how!? He seemed like an absolute wimp, but just now, almost like releasing his fighting aura or whatever, I felt my skin getting goosebump, I have to say I can tell he really is no pushover! I’ve been meeting strong people left and right! Even Heather in her prime wouldn’t be able to beat him in a fight I don’t think.

  I kinda want to see a fight between him and that old man at the guild though! Fortunately, despite him being this strong, it’s still nowhere close to Celestial or the other hooded figures in terms of power I think.

  Anyways, since we were intimidating each other, I also tried to pressure him like I did with the guild master.

  “Yep, it’s just as I thought...”

  “Last chance to back down mister king”

  “Oh I won’t back down even if it costs me my life, but let me ask you something first”

  “Eh?”

  “Do you really want to fight? I have no doubt in my mind that you can kill me but”

  The ‘king’ began looking around.

  “The knights, sves, even the vicinity of the town will probably have massive casualties, are you ok with that?”

  “...Tch...”

  He’s right, maybe if I can push him somewhere else.

  “Can you fight with me, and protect everyone at the same time?”

  He then proceeded to use a magic spell I’ve never seen, as a rge circle of light appeared engulfing almost the whole pace!

  “...w-what kind of king uses his people as hostages!”

  “The kind that can't afford to lose”

  “Coward!”

  “Ahaha! I would call it being strategic, besides, I know you don’t intend to fight me, if you wanted my head, you would’ve attacked the moment you discovered my identity”

  This guy seriously gets on my nerves! I really don’t like him at all!

  “Don’t take it that badly, I’m actually impressed by your work”

  “Yes? What work?”

  “You saved so many sves and captured so many nobles involved in shady activities, I can’t say anything but excellent work!”

  And he cpped, I really, really, REALLY want to tear that stupid smiling face off from his stupid face.

  “M-milord! Don’t believe this wench! She-“

  “Gwendal! Shut up for a moment please”

  “Yeah! Shut it piggy!”

  “But milord she is! She’s a-”

  “Yes, I can tell from the power she exerts, and the fact Celestial it’s around, you’re Maldi’s daughter no?”

  “So I’ve been told”

  “Y-your majesty knew already!”

  “Yes, we in the royal family have known that the demon lord’s daughter has been sealed in our country, although we never knew the exact location”

  “You knew!? How!?”

  The piggy is very taken aback by this revetion.

  “If you paid attention to our country’s history, you could easily figured out as much, still the fact she was here in Welst have some worrisome consequences-”

  “That’s enough chit chatting for now!”

  Seriously the piggy and said king ignoring me and talking between each other! I worry about Heather’s sister!

  “Piggy!”

  “hii!”

  “Spill the beans or you’re really gonna bite the dust!”

  “I-I don’t know anything!”

  “Gwendal, I don’t know what you did but, if I were you, I’d give the information Marisa is looking for or she’s gonna really put your head on a spike”

  “Ugh... Fine! The little brat is in the basement!”

  “Ellie!”

  And so Heather bolted away at the words of the piggy, in the basement? My senses have all but mostly come back now and I still can’t smell or feel her presence, something isn’t adding up!

  “Wait Heather! I’m going too!”

  “Ungrateful bitch! The king it’s granting an audience to you and you’re gonna leave him like that!?”

  “Ok! That’s it! say goodbye to your head!”

  “Umm... Marisa”

  The king intercepted me again!

  “Shut it dude! I don’t know what you think of me, but if someone I care about is in danger I’ll kill the entire country, consequences be damned! Don’t take me lightly!”

  “And what will you do if you kill your only lead? I doubt Gwendal was working alone”

  “...”

  I really, really, REALLY don’t like the king! I never put him in power, dethrone him already!

  “It’s ok Marisa, I’ll go, if something bad happens, I can probably deal with it”

  “Celestial... thanks! I’ll go with you in a second!”

  And so Celestial dashed following Heather, leaving me and the king to talk alone, the piggy doesn’t count!

  “It’s ok I won’t take much more of your time”

  “Your majesty! Don’t give her the chance to fool you! The first thing she did when arriving in town was procimed herself as the town lord and-”

  “So, she’s been the one giving orders tely is that it?”

  The king didn’t even let piggy finish his sentence. I can tell behind the fake smile, that he’s beyond himself in anger, but it’s surprising that it isn’t directed towards me.

  “Eh, well...”

  “I had a hunch but, actually Gwendal, you wouldn’t have anything to do with Marisa’s seal breaking open do you?”

  “What!? That’s preposterous!”

  “Gwendal, keep quiet, I want to talk with Marisa now”

  It seems he finally caught my death stare and impatient posture. I really need to go with Heather and Celestial, I feel worried for some reason.

  “So, Marisa, is it true you’ve been taking the duties of town lord tely?”

  “Kinda, I did took the town lord position by force”

  “So the vilge of refugees was your doing”

  “Yes, If you dare to even touch a hair from them, I’ll make your life miserable”

  “And what about the terrain recovered on the border by the pace knights of all troops? Was that you as well?”

  “Eh? Well I did send the pace knights, but that’s entirely them, I did nothing personally”

  “Hmm, I see”

  “Are you done?”

  “Yes, it’s clear to me you’re a great fit for the job you took, so let’s make it official”

  “...eh?”

  “Marisa, with the authority granted to me as the king of Aldrid, I hereby decre you the town lord of this town of Welst, congratutions”

  “What!?”

  Everyone retorted in surprise, the guards, nobles, even some of the sves.

  “Y-your majesty you can’t be serious!!”

  “Gwendal! Not only did you commit a crime against nature by releasing Marisa-“

  “Thanks!?”

  “Ah, sorry, either way, you put not the town, the whole world in danger, not only that but Celestial is on her side as well! Think about your position, and what would happen if they had evil intentions! I’d have you executed if Marisa wasn’t this amicable!”

  “Oh you can execute him, I have no problems with that!”

  “Your majesty!”

  “No. I won’t execute Gwendal”

  “Fine, I'll do it myself!”

  “Please refrain from doing that Marisa, even if he’s a terrible person, the people of this town hold him and his family in high regards, it’ll be troublesome to let him die like that”

  “I couldn’t care less to be honest”

  “Do you really think the people will accept a demon lord as their new town lord!”

  This piggy! Getting on my nerves!

  “Gwendal”

  “Yes your majesty!”

  “Don’t push your luck, I don’t think I will be able to stop her a third time, didn’t I asked you to remain silent”

  “...”

  “Much better, although Gwendal raises a good point, we can’t have the people know of your identity”

  “Oh yeah? What then?”

  “Well, hmm... ah! We can do like the town of Srtel”

  “Who?”

  “Of course you wouldn’t know Marisa, that is to say, you’ll be the town lord, but remain anonymous in public”

  “Is that even possible? Besides I don’t want to be anonymous”

  “Yes, the details are probably something you don’t care about right now, I’ll make the official announcement tomorrow”

  “I’ll just reveal my identity as the town lord, you waste your time”

  “Well I can’t stop you from doing that, even so I’d advise keeping Gwendal around, truth be told I have a debt to his father I probably will never be able to pay, so I beg of you to spare his life at the very least”

  “Make me”

  “I can’t, all I can do is ask like this”

  And the king then bowed to me, everyone was just in stupefaction, what? I’m great, why are you all amazed, I’m not surprised the king bowed to me!

  “Well, if you ask so nicely”

  “Thank you Marisa, that’s all from me, feel free to go”

  “Will do! as for the knights! Apprehend all the culprits in cells for now! I’ll continue the interrogation with them ter, oh and the sves, have them stay for now as refugees, if there’s not enough space to accommodate them ask the neighboring houses, I’ll repay their kindness eventually! Promise! Also if any sve wants to leave and be on their way, let them go!”

  And like that I handed my orders and dashed to the basement as well, trying to catch the other two.

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  “Your majesty! Are you sure about what you’re doing!? She’s a monster! Daughter of the demon lord!“

  “Yes, you shouldn’t judge people from their lineage, you should know this by now!”

  “Ah, yes, sorry your majesty”

  “Still Gwendal, the fact Marisa it’s here, makes the pieces of the puzzle fall in pce”

  “What do you mean your majesty?”

  “For one, why has the empire attacked so insistently at Welst, and not our other bordering towns? I had a hunch they were looking for something, now I worry if that something was Marisa herself”

  “That’s...”

  “Not only that, the church has also been acting strange, it’s like they’re hiding something, more so than what they usually hide, and finally there’s a particur sect who has been acting strange tely...”

  “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about milord”

  “Oh but you do! Gwendal, you better start talking, for the sake of our kingdom”

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  *sniff*

  “Ah! That’s Ellie alright! Over here!”

  I said to Heather, I catch up with them quite easily, since she’s slow with a missing limb and Celestial it’s keeping her pace.

  On that note, this bitter smell is... not pleasant.

  “Ellie!”

  “Wait!”

  Celestial grabbed Heather before she rushed towards Ellie, I’ve never seen Celestial with such anger in her eyes...

  As for Ellie, she was ying on the ground, as a bck tar-like substance was enveloped around her body, it’s bubbling and spreading on the floor as well.

  I could see celestial clenching his fist so hard I could see her hand bleeding.

  “How did that pig do this! It’s-“

  “Let go of me! ELLIE!”

  “It looks like the curse of st time”

  Yeah, but on steroids, I didn’t say this part out loud, Heather it’s trying to get off from Celestial’s grip, and she in turn has a face of both confusion and rage.

  “I’ll just remove it”

  Jumping quickly towards Ellie, I tried tearing the tar substance apart from her body, but the moment I touched it I felt a stinging sensation in my hands, like bee stings all over them.

  No point in dwelling on this, the whip hurt more! I yoinked pieces of bck tar off from her body, but for as much as I pull, it won’t separate! It just stretches like slime and forms back when I let go.

  “Marisa stop!”

  “Celestial?”

  “The curse won’t leave unless you eradicate it all at once”

  “Do you know how to do it?”

  “Yes, but the spell needed is so strong I don’t think the girl will survive it if I casted it on top of her”

  “Then it’s useless then!”

  “I’m sorry, but that girl will probably...”

  “ELLIE! ELLIE! I'M HERE ELLIE! I'M GONNA SAVE YOU! LET GO OF ME!!”

  “Idiot! If you touch that you’re dead as well! Don’t do anything stupid!”

  “ELLIE!”

  “Celestial! Do you know what this is!?”

  “I! Yes, the Anathema, a type of curse that erodes all that it touches, It’s surprisingly weak the one in front of us but...”

  “Ok thanks for the expnation but that doesn’t help me, how do I safely remove it?”

  “Only the caster can undo it, the only way to get rid of it is by annihition”

  I keep trying to yank it all away pulling it away, then I tried using magic to hold it but it seems to be evaporating the moment it touches the bck tar.

  “ELLIE!!”

  “Celestial, how come I can touch it just fine? If it’s so dangerous!?”

  “Because it’s you”

  ...ok fair! Still it doesn’t help me! Celestial said as much, I could probably destroy it if I tried, but Ellie would be destroyed in the process!

  “Is there seriously nothing we can do!?”

  “I! There is but-“

  It looks like Celestial had a revetion, but she’s skeptical about telling me.

  “Anything! Say it!”

  “A curse that weak won’t be able to permeate those with a strong Aura, that’s why both you and me are unaffected even if we touch it, we could easily remove it if Ellie was strong enough...”

  “And how do I do that!?”

  “Well, the demon lord was capable of creating ckeys by infusing his energy into them, maybe we could do the same but…”

  “But?”

  “I don’t think that will work! You saw it, infuse mana into her and the curse will erode it immediately”

  “What if I put my back into it!”

  “Same problem! I don’t think the little girl would survive!”

  “Then!?”

  “Umm… there’s another way but...”

  “Why so indecisive!? Say it!”

  “He also did it by giving his heart”

  “Poetic! What do I do!?”

  “She has to eat it! Now you see the problem!”

  “I honestly don’t”

  As I said this, I looked at my hands, using magic to stretch my nails until they were pointy and sharp, then I just shoved my hand into my chest.

  “OUCH!!! This hurts!! This hurts a lot!!”

  “Marisa! what are you doing!?”

  “You said she has to eat it right!”

  “Yeah but!”

  “If someone did it before, then I sure as hell can!”

  “I-I mean yeah, if killing Maldi was as easy as turning him to dust, you wouldn’t have been born but!”

  “UGH!!”

  I tried looking around, honestly I have no idea what I’m poking at, but I feel the one inside me pulsating, that’s my heart right? Probably! Still moving around myself it’s difficult since my body it’s surprisingly tough and durable.

  “Ah!”

  I managed to rip a piece out, not the whole thing, is this enough? I don’t know, I’m feeling sick, I quickly got close to Ellie and shoved the bloodied piece in her mouth...

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  “M-MARISA!!”

  Celestial finally let go of me, and I rushed towards Ellie and Marisa, but Celestial beat me to the punch since she was holding Marisa in her arms in the blink of an eye.

  “Stupid! What are you doing!?”

  It’s obvious Marisa isn’t answering, Celestial sliced her arm open, and let a huge bloodstream flow into marisa’s mouth.

  I still tried to get close to them but Celestial yelled at me.

  “Don’t come close yet!”

  “I…”

  The bck substance was still around, surrounding my sister and trying to stick to Celestial, although it doesn’t seem to be working.

  “Is Marisa ok!?”

  “I don’t know, it shouldn’t affect her this much I don’t think!”

  Celestial was holding Marisa and checking her vitals, but she’s unresponsive and completely passed out.

  “She doesn’t have a pulse!”

  Celestial then started casting a healing spell, or so I think it is, it reminds me of the healers in the pace, light emanating from her but it doesn’t seem to be working given Marisa is still bleeding from the chest at an arming rate!

  “Dammit!”

  This is worrisome, Celestial then proceeded to use magic again, it seemed to be a portal, from which she pulled a book and about three different staffs, what followed was quite amazing, as she quickly opened the book, and used some sort of spell I’ve never seen before, using all three staffs I could feel the room turning heavy, I don’t know exactly what’s happening, the air around us started to distort and an unholy amount of spell circles I don’t understand flew around both Celestial and Marisa, after a good minute or two, a crystal started forming around Marisa, and when it was all over, Celestial lost her bance for a second, but regained her composure.

  “What happened!?”

  I asked, worried beyond my mind.

  “I pced Marisa in a seal like the one Hestia did all those years ago, although it’s rough and rather weak compared to what she and I did back in the day, it should help her recover, even if slowly”

  “Thank god... ah! Ellie!”

  As I rushed towards my sister, Celestial gestured to me to stop again.

  “Let me, with Marisa out cold, let’s hope her little stunt worked, if not then say goodbye to your sister”

  At her words, Celestial then pced a hand on the bck goo, and an intense light shined from her touch, so bright I couldn’t help but avert my gaze, it blinded me for a second, it was so strong I could still see the light even with my eyes closed, which helped because I knew exactly when Celestial was done, As I slowly opened my eyes, my sister was ying on the ground, no longer covered in that awful substance. I could see Ellie struggle a bit, she looked in pain...

  “It’s ok Ellie! Big sis is here!”

  I finally got next to her and held her in my arm, keeping her face close to my chest, but then I got poked by something.

  A pair of small horns came out of my sister’s head.

  “Wha? Celestial what- celestial are you ok!?”

  She’s panting and bending a knee!

  “Yeah! I just... used too much mana at once, it’s all”

  “Are you gonna be ok?”

  “Yeah, just give me a minute”

  “Phew... ah! My sister!”

  “She’ll be fine too, thank Marisa for that”

  “But, the horns”

  “She turned into a demon after eating marisa’s hearth, it was the only way her body could withstand the curse”

  “Then my sister is a demon?”

  “Yeah, but what’s a race change, she’s still your sister at heart isn’t she?”

  “Y-yeah... you’re right!”

  Ellie will always be my little sister, it doesn’t matter what happens!

  “Even so this curse! It was quite crude but...”

  “Umm... celestial?”

  She’s super angry! I felt like I was gonna pass out from the pressure she was emitting, I don’t want to stress Ellie or Marisa any further!

  “C-Celestial!”

  it seems she realized it since she stopped at my words.

  “Ah! Sorry Heather, it’s nothing”

  As we both caught our bearings after a long day, rexing for a second, a voice echoed in the basement, catching us both off guard.

  “W-what’s happening!?”

  “Who are you!?”

  It’s one of the sves we rescued, wasn’t she with Marisa?

  “Ah! I’m sorry, my name is Rushka! But that’s not important right now! What happened to Marisa!”

  What’s with this girl, she’s really tiny, but I can tell she’s not a kid, she doesn’t give me the feeling of being a child, unlike Marisa and Ellie.

  “Rushka... you seem familiar”

  “Eh? You know her, Celestial?”

  “Not at all, but... looking at her, she reminds me of that old white beard, maybe cuz you two are dwarves”

  “Celestial!? T-the dragon Celestial!?”

  “Yes”

  “T-then could you possibly be talking about Glenn?”

  “Yeah! That old white beard! Haven’t heard his name in ages!”

  “He died some millennia ago...”

  “I know, he would’ve come in handy right now...”

  “M-maybe I could help! I am his descendant after all!”

  “No wonder you seemed familiar, still I don’t think you can do anything”

  “Well, I can’t if you don’t expin me”

  I don’t know about this girl, but it seems Celestial trusts her, so I will too for now, either way, Celestial calmly expined the situation to her.

  “So she ripped her heart apart! Literally!?”

  “Yes, I’ll keep her in here until her body heals”

  “Ah! It’s a rather complex construct, purely made up of mana!? That’s so impressive, but she’s gonna regenerate so slowly like this! Can you truly keep her there for so long!?”

  “I’ll do it for as long as it’s needed”

  “Celestial!”

  I didn’t know she was gonna be stuck in there for long!

  “Such is the situation, unfortunately”

  “But maybe we can save her, if it’s only her heart!”

  The little girl began to think, and immediately jumped in her pce.

  “Do you have a pen and something to write in?”

  “Yes, here”

  Celestial then handed her a pen and paper, it’s amazing the spatial magic from celestial, she keeps around a lot of things.

  “Something like this!”

  And she scribbled in the piece of paper, it seems to be some sort of machine? I really couldn’t understand at all, it was so eborate and detailed, it left even Celestial dumbfounded.

  “Wow...”

  “Ta-dah! We could call it an artificial heart! It’ll help her survive until her heart regenerates, and the mana consumption would be magnitudes cheaper than what you’re doing”

  “You really are that old whitebeard kid huh...”

  “Hehe”

  “Let’s do it then-“

  “Sorry celestial I don’t trust her!”

  “Eh?”

  I stopped them in their tracks.

  “Isn’t this too convenient!? Can we really trust her? What if this is another ploy by that pig! Or the king even!”

  “Hmm... that’s true, but...”

  “P-please don’t doubt me!”

  “Well, what reason do we have to trust you?”

  “I... I want to help Marisa! She saved my life during that auction! I want to pay her back!”

  “And you think your words are enough! It’s-“

  “It’s fine Heather, I trust her”

  “But celestial!”

  “She’s not lying, besides... no it’s nothing”

  Did Celestial smile just now? That’s odd from her, ah, no point in dwelling too much!

  “Well fine! let’s do it then”

  “We need a lot of materials and catalysts though... I! I don’t have a penny to my name...”

  Of course she wouldn't. She was a sve an hour ago, if her story is to be believed.

  “Right, let’s go gather them then! Celestial, do you have the materials around to build this device?”

  “Hmm... some but not all of them, although they shouldn’t be hard to gather them”

  “They should be sold in town, there’s nothing too complex! Although we’re gonna need to fabricate some pieces!”

  “I can form them if you have the raw materials, that shouldn’t be a problem”

  Seriously, Celestial can do just about anything.

  “Then could you lend us the money from your spatial magic? It’ll be faster than running to get it from Marisa’s things”

  “I! I don’t! Umm...”

  “Celestial?”

  Why is she suddenly sweating and so nervous?

  “I don’t have any money...”

  “Really? Sorry, then-”

  “D-don’t pay any mind, here’s marisa’s backpack, I’ll just teleport it here”

  “I don’t think it’s gonna be easy getting the grade A catalyst for the main core”

  “They don’t sell those!?”

  “Do you know how rare those are!? They’re rare from caves, or rather strong monsters”

  “I’ll get the catalysts, I have plenty in my cave, you two go get the rest of the metals and materials for the parts!”

  “Understood!”

  And so I left with this dwarven girl to buy the materials, I didn’t know celestial was this affectionate to hoarding rare stuff with herself. Dragons and treasure legends are more of a fact than I expected huh.

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  Meanwhile, deep in the forest, two cloaked figures talked to each other in the middle of the night.

  “Can’t you be more obvious”

  “Sorry sorry! But you’re smiling too”

  “Shut it! You almost blew our charade in there”

  “But it went all according to pn didn’t it?”

  “Yeah, for a test, it went surprisingly well and I’m amazed she realized about the drugs so quickly”

  “She’s way smarter than we gave her credit for”

  “Still, we’re gonna need to move base, I don’t think this town is gonna aid us anymore, much less now that Gwendal is out of the picture”

  “Haa, you’re right! Should we kill him now?”

  “Leave it, he can’t say anything regardless, not that he knows anything important to begin with, killing him would only bring even more attention to us”

  “We were told to be discreet, and yet we’re keeping witnesses alive, I don’t understand”

  “Certainly, still, they were direct orders from milord, we carried them out fwlessly”

  “That we did, although Celestial might be wary after seeing the little girl”

  “Maybe that’s the pn~”

  “Still, the princess it’s stronger than we thought, that’s reassuring”

  “We knew we couldn’t bring her with us by force to begin with,we have to go back and report to our lord immediately!~”

  “Yes, Let’s go”

  Joanne_carper