Demon King's Gardener

The next morning, Jurao went to the training fields as usual and was surprised to see Malson and Beneford there.

“Good morning,” he greeted them, curious.

“Good morning, your highness,” Beneford said mildly.

Malson snorted, stretching, “Morning!”

“I am surprised to see you here when you’ve only just arrived,” the King said.

“I am a man of habit,” Beneford said, “And I don’t let the people I’ve trained slack too much - I wouldn’t have forced Malson to be here today, but given the possibility of danger, I’ll soon have the rest of them going through their paces again.”

“Aya’ll be thrilled,” Malson sighed, “If Braelin or Meir have kept up with any combat training, I’ll eat my boot!”

“I don’t take losing bets,” Beneford replied.

“Braelin doing combat training?” Minaz chuckled as she wandered up to them, “That sounds interesting.”

“For all his complaints, he’s never been that bad at it!” Malson rolled his eyes, “I mean, he’s not amazing, but he’s usually a bit above average when he keeps up with it!”

“He mentioned polearms,” Jurao recalled, tail swaying behind him.

Minaz snorted, noticing the motion before saying, “You know, feats of strength and combat are demon courtship techniques.”

“I know!” Malson rolled his eyes again.

“Oh yeah,” his Right Hand cupped her chin, “Kloy mentioned you have a half-demon kid?”

“Malson,” Ben sighed.

“What!?” Malson shrugged, “He’s a doctor! And Jaevve’s cousin! And odds are they’ll head out here too!”

“... fair points,” the former guard captain sighed.

“You know Kloy’s cousin,” Jurao asked.

“Yeah, she mentioned it before!” Malson replied, “That her cousins had some big falling out and the one she liked better ended up Royal Physician! She’s the partner I had a half-demon kid with!”

“So one of your kids is Kloy’s kin?” Minaz snorted, “Oh, he’ll love that…”

“Oh, I should probably mention it to him!” Malson said.

“Probably,” Beneford sighed, “She’ll get a kick out of Goyl…”

“Eh, she probably outranks him!” the former prince snorted.

“Well, Kloy is from a Major family,” Minaz shrugged, “Odds are good they’re at least of rank.”

“But forget all that!” Malson said and turned to Jurao, “Spar with me!”

“Alright,” Jurao agreed.

“You shouldn’t say yes that fast,” Minaz sighed, “But he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so…”

“You’re not wrong,” Beneford rolled his eyes.

“Do you intend to use swords or pistols,” Jurao asked, noticing the rapier and dagger strapped to the man’s waist under his pistols. He also had a bandolier strapped across his chest.

“Depends - how much damage can a pistol do to you!?” Malson replied.

“I don’t actually know,” the King replied, “I haven’t been shot since I Ascended - shall we test it first.”

The former prince pulled one of his pistols from its holster as he walked several paces back, then turned and leveled the weapon, “Tell me where!”

“... I feel like the responsible thing would be to stop them,” Minaz said to Beneford as she backed away from the line of fire, “But I’m also curious.”

“The kind of pistol Malson uses can pierce most demons’ skin,” the former guard captain replied, following her, “But it’s never gone clean through and usually doesn’t cause major damage unless he aims for something sensitive.”

Hearing that, Jurao held out one of his larger arms, “Forearm, please.”

Malson shot without hesitation.

Jurao flinched as it hit - but it only stung a little. He examined his arm and gave it a few test rotations before saying, “No harm done.”

Minaz whistled, “Ascension really is impressive.”

The King agreed, “I think it would have at least left a welt before.”

“Trollish demons are tougher than others!” Malson shrugged, “Pistols and blades, then!”

Jurao nodded, pulling out his twin swords, “I am going to wrap my blades first - I do not wish to insult you, but I am very strong.”

“And fast,” Minaz added, “He’s quick as fuck for his size.”

“Noted!” Malson replied, “Should I wrap mine!?”

“I do not think that is necessary,” the King replied, nodding to a soldier who offered him thick, padded cloth and leather wraps with accompanying ties.

As he wrapped the blades, a crowd was beginning to gather - though that was usual for any duel he participated in. Though he did think, perhaps, the crowd was larger than usual.

“Isn’t that the brother of the King’s partner?” someone in the crowd asked their fellows.

“The one courting some lordis,” another replied, “Or so I heard.”

“I heard that human is thinking of joining the guard,” a third chuckled, “Should be interesting to see what he can do - even if he is going to lose to the King.”

I see, Jurao thought, hearing similar sentiments as he finished wrapping his weapons, There are many points of interest.

“Are you prepared,” the King asked as he stepped back out onto the field.

“I was waiting for you!” Malson replied, rapier in one hand and pistol resting on his shoulder.

Minaz snorted, leaning against a nearby fence.

Beneford sighed, doing the same next to her.

“This is true,” Jurao nodded, and fell into his usual stance, “Minaz.”

“Count of three, then begin,” she called out, “Three! Two! One! Begin!”

Jurao sidestepped Malson’s first shot and continued in a sideways arc as the man kept firing. The King charged as soon as there was a big enough pause.

Malson didn’t appear concerned - popping out part of his pistol, the hilt of his rapier already in his mouth as he grabbed something off his bandolier. He pushed it into the pistol and slapped the lot back into place before leveling the weapon again.

Jurao dove to the side as a shot whizzed by his head - likely aimed at one of his eyes. But he still had reach - striking out with the flat of his sword.

Malson jumped back to avoid it, grabbed his rapier, and closed the distance.

Sound tactics, the King thought, stepping back at the advance - with the lighter blade and comparative lack of reach, close or ranged was the best way for the human to go about it.

But… to Jurao, the thrusts were too slow, even as he dodged back. And it was very difficult to see them as much of a threat when he knew they wouldn’t be able to cut.

Or so he’d thought before a small gash opened on the side of his torso.

He reacted on instinct - dropping a sword to one of his lower hands to bat his opponent aside as he jumped back to put distance between them again.

Malson came up in a roll from the blow, firing off three rounds at once as a protective measure of his own.

“Hold,” Jurao called as he twisted to ensure the shots hit nothing important.

“Yeah!?” Malson asked, pointing his pistol at the ground.

The King moved both his swords to one of his larger hands so he could inspect the damage, “You cut me.”

“He what?” Minaz asked, jogging up.

Malson scoffed, getting to his feet, “It’s a nick! You’re the one who said I didn’t need to wrap my blades!”

“Yes,” Jurao agreed on both counts - the wound was both shallow and only a few inches wide, hardly worth consideration. And he had said it would be fine, “But I had not realized your sword was capable of cutting me - if I’d had better leverage, I probably would have broken your arm and possibly a few ribs with that sweep from surprise.”

Minaz whistled, “What’s that made of? More of a mace gal myself, but might ask the smithing spirit for a backup dagger of something that landed a hit on Jurao.”

Malson joined them and held up his blade to showcase the wavy patterning - and the way the edge was glowing red, “It’s bastard hevir steel! The smith who forged it was a fae who melted in magic components at random to see what they did - mine heats up the longer I hold it! But it can heat up to the point of being too hot to hold, so it’s not great for lengthy engagements!”

“Yuovehn, the fae smith, dubbed it ‘bastard’ due to its unpredictability compared to regular hevir steel,” Beneford added, “But they can make regular hevir steel weapons, so the quality is always top-notch - demon steel on Malson’s rapier, too.”

“Well, that’d do it,” Minaz sighed, “Before Ascension, a regular hevir steel demon weapon would definitely be able to cut Jurao - it was probably the heated edge that let yours do it anyway.”

“It was a present from Jaevve!” Malson grinned proudly, “Said the parent of a demon kid should have a proper demon weapon!”

“She sounds like a treat,” Minaz snorted.

“You’d think a healer would be less militant-minded,” Beneford sighed, but with a smile.

“You would,” Jurao asked, deciding to leave the cut be. It would stop bleeding soon, and his training clothes were meant to be dirtied in any case.

“Are you agreeing or asking?” his Right Hand asked.

“Asking,” Jurao replied.

Minaz snorted, smiling, “The demon goddess of medicine, Vasculas, is also the goddess of poison and assassins - I wouldn’t expect any demon-trained healer not to be a little militant.”

“A fair point,” Beneford conceded.

“Did the human really land a hit?”

Jurao had entirely forgotten about their audience, and his ears twitched as he heard more of the same sentiment from the crowd. He usually trained by going through his forms alone, then sparring with several partners at once - it was simply too easy for him to overpower anyone in a one-on-one match. Even if he were holding back, it was impressive that Malson had managed to land a hit - especially one that caused damage.

“Don’t know if it was your goal with all this,” Minaz said, looking over the crowd herself as she noticed Jurao listening, “But it seems you’ve gotten yourself some quick respect.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that!” Malson snorted, “I just needed to see him in action so I could make a plan for kicking his ass if I ever need to! Not that I think I will, but it never hurts to be prepared!”

“... he saw the King in action and still thinks he can come up with a way to beat him…?” one of the crowd said.

“The human has to know he was holding back, right?” another asked.

“I don’t think he cares either way…” a third chuckled.

“Did you want to continue,” Jurao asked, “Now that I am expecting it, I am not afraid of causing accidental injury.”

“Nah!” Malson replied, “I got a good idea of what I should work on for next time! Thanks for indulging me, though!”

“I look forward to our next match,” the King replied.

After asking more after the human’s sword and pistols, Jurao finished his own training routine as usual. Minaz challenged Malson to spar herself - they were far more evenly matched. Even with the human only using blades, since his pistols would no doubt be able to cause Minaz more grievous injury by accident.

When he’d returned to his suite and cleaned up, Feyl was waiting as usual.

“Someone landed a hit on you?” his best friend asked in lieu of greeting, as Jurao was applying a bandage to keep from accidentally bleeding on his finer clothes.

“Malson,” the King replied, “He challenged me to a spar this morning - he has a most unusual rapier.”

“Oh?” Feyl asked.

“Hevir steel made using demon iron,” Jurao replied, going to his wardrobe to collect a tunic to put over the underskirt he was already wearing, “A fae smith smelted magic materials into it that cause it to heat up the longer it’s wielded - though it can heat to the point of the user being unable to hold it.”

“Wear something that shows the bandage,” his valet suggested, “Usually you cut demon or human metal with fae metal to hold an enchantment, but smelting in magic materials from the start… perhaps dragonic ores and minerals?”

“Yes, though the smith was not more specific than that to Malson,” the King replied, doing as suggested - it would undoubtedly bolster Malson’s martial reputation. After seeing the man spar with Minaz, Jurao was confident he could handle himself well in a duel. He went on, “His pistols were also unusual - more akin to one of the Champions than an average pistol.”

“In what way?” Feyl asked, eyes gaining their usual gleam when weapon construction or smithing came up and no one was around to make him worried about showing it.

“They could fire five rounds before needing to be reloaded,” Jurao recounted, “And he could reload all five at once without priming - siren engineering attempting to mimic the weaponry of Champions by modifying the human flintlock.”

“Fascinating,” his best friend said, hands moving like he was imagining taking apart the piece himself - which he likely was, “I wonder if Nevve could get some dragonic materials…”

“Probably,” the King smiled, wondering what Feyl was considering smithing - and how soon it would end up in Minaz’s hands.