NOVEL WEB Volume 2 – Chapter 17
A week passed by since the Tomiko incident. She remained un-contactable. The only reason I knew she was alright was because of the (Mind)Communicate link we shared. As long as they were alive and conscious, I would be able to know of her existence, as would they be able to know of mine. It took a lot longer to arrange the meeting with the other Demon Lords. For a start, we had to explain ourselves. We couldn’t hide Tomiko’s disappearance, but I didn’t want to share her desire to become a Demon Lord with those who weren’t when I transformed her into an abyssal being. Who knows what the consequences were? So I suggested we tell everyone that she was upset about her new appearance. This made her look loyal and fickle as a trained servant to a Demon Lord, but the alternative was her being branded a traitor. I wanted to avoid that, at least until I had a chance to talk to her.
Given the circumstances, it was becoming obvious to me that we really needed Tomiko. Not only for her teleportation services but also to act as the go-in-between us and the other Demon Lords. We couldn’t trust them yet. And they couldn’t trust us. And so having an attendant acting as a diplomat of sorts, communicating with the other attendants, would smooth matters out and make them efficient. For example, Tomiko managed to get Justus to compromise and lend us his ear in just one day. I didn’t like the idea of changing Castle-kun’s height to suit the old demon’s… concerns, but it was only a matter of getting Castle-Kun to push the castle deeper into the ground, so we hadn’t lost any floor-space.
And so it took a week of relying on communication with the other Demon Lords’ attendants, with Ao acting as Tomiko’s Replacement. I knew his loyalty was unwavering, so he was suited for the task without leaking any information. The slave girls really reminded me of a bunch of teenage girls giggling on a bus together. Harmless, but unreliable. It wasn’t an option for Elissa to do the legwork herself, given her status as a Demon Lord. That much was obvious to me from reading enough light novels in my previous life. Royalty should always put on airs of royalty, lest they be undermined, at no benefit to them. It worked the same for the top 1% of society in the old world too.
We had to get teleported into Justus’ bony spire by Aiko, but we were finally there. Elissa was seated, cross-legged in her spot on the Pentagram. As before, to our immediate left was Mellow, eyeing Elissa as always with her beautiful translucent portals. In the centre was Justus, looking old as always, and to our right was Pandora, the loli enigma. Behind them, they’re catgirls and one catboy. Behind us, Ao. commanded to silence unless called for. We left Rodd, Elissa’s hammer back at the castle. None of the other demon lords seemed to bring weapons with them last time, so we followed suit.
“Demon Lord Elissa, why have you summoned the Pentagram?”, Justus opened. He knew very well why we were here, but I guess his insistence on formalities was to be expected by now.
“First off, thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Demon Lord Justus, Demon Lord Mellow and Demon Lord Panda,” Elissa replied on queue. I’d sometimes forget she could be mature and formal when she wanted to.
Justus nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“Bah! I hate these stupid games! We all know why you’re here! You want that sweet, sweet intel on who blew up Wealdthurst, you cutie!” Mellow interrupted. Justus wrinkled his brow. Pandora remained emotionless.
“I’ll tell you who it was if you give me a kiss!”, Mellow added as she completely disregarded any semblance of propriety or order Justus was pinning for as he called our “Demon Lord Mellow!”. It was like a comedy sketch.
But we weren’t here for entertainment. We needed to find and punish whoever wiped out our budding penis-worm plague. It was a personal matter for Elissa, and as much as I’d like to let things be, I felt what she felt.
“That’s Right Demon Lord Mellow,” Elissa replied, unfazed, “it is a grave matter for me, so I ask that you not make light of it. If it takes a kiss for me to be able to track down the perpetrators and punish them for slaying my offspring, I will gladly offer it.”
Mellow grinned. She pouted her lips and leaned towards Elissa.
“That won’t be necessary,” Demon Lord Justus interrupted, “I was hoping to keep this on the negotiating table, but Demon Lord’s Mellow’s antics will only lead us nowhere. So I will tell you. Please Demon Lord Elissa, please forgive the frivolousness of the Slime Demon Lord.”
“Aww…”, Mellow whined as she retreated to her seat, sliding back in one fluid, jelly-like motion. Her breasts jiggling as she did so.
“It was the Saint of the Empire. It is she who killed your children and wiped out Wealdthurst, Demon Lord Elissa,” Justus announced.
The Saint of the Empire? Like an actual saint? In the religious sense? Like an old man?
“Only she wields the power for such immediate and total destruction. The Saint is no mere servant of the Emperor, but also a tool of the goddesses,” he explained.
She? Oh, so she’s more of the fantasy trope saint-type. The goddesses are involved as well? Sounds dangerous…
“If you wish to seek revenge on her, know that it will bring undue attention to all Demon Lords. And so, while I have revealed to you, Demon Lord Elissa, the perpetrator. Know that the means of finding her are not simple,” Justus elaborated. I could feel he wanted something for the trouble, and I could understand his point about undue attention…
“Hey! Justy, that was my intel to give and profit from! That’s unfair!” called out Mellow, her hue flashing a barely perceivable red as she annunciated the word ‘unfair’.
“I understand you have gone through great effort to secure this information, Demon Lord Mellow,” the old man stoked his long white beard. His bald head, with the inscribed spiral gleaming in the light of the setting sun, “but this way will benefit all of us.”
Justus was looking much less like a wizard right now and more like a politician about to strike a back-room deal after screwing a bunch of people over… I had a bad feeling about this.
“Ergo, if you wish to know the Saint’s location, Demon Lord Elissa, you must undertake three tasks. One for each Demon Lord. This is fair compensation for Mellow’s efforts, and any trouble this will undoubtedly cause for all of us.”
He really was a crafty old demon lord…
“That is, unless you have your own expansive information network to uncover your prey’s location, or perhaps an informant, a spy, an attendant who may be willing to go the extra mile for you, Demon Lord Elissa? I have heard that your attendant has disappeared.”
That bastard!! I could feel my own and Elissa’s blood boiling over. To her credit, she remained completely poker faced.
“Oh, I do like this idea Justy! But the location is mine to give, so you’ll have to make it up to me…” Mellow perked up, flicking her wrist in a little wave.
Justus flinched.
“Very well, we will make arrangements in due course, Demon Lord Mellow.”
This whole thing was turning into some sort of quest line, and I didn’t like it.
Stop!
Time froze for everyone but Elissa and I.
“What do you think, Hero?”
“I think I don’t like these guys. But they do have a fair point. Going after this so-called saint is likely to cause trouble.”
“I just want to avenge my children Hero, this saint deserves to be punished for her crimes…”
“I agree Elissa. I don’t think we have a choice here if we want to do punish her. We’re short on man-power and can’t beat hundreds if not thousands of years of experience and connections.”
“I trust you, Hero.”
“Thank you Elissa. I’m sure it’s just some boring ‘fetch quests’ or something that they want from us.”
“What’s a ‘fetch quest’, Hero?”
“Umm… I’ll explain later. But it shouldn’t be too hard for us.”
“Alright!”
Start!
Time went back to normal, as if nothing had happened.
“Very well, I shall undertake your ‘fetch quests’”, Elissa said decisively.
Elissa totally let that slip. I should be careful about using old world terms with Elissa in the future! I could have sworn Pandora’s right brow microscopically lifted, but it may have been just my imagination…
“I do not know what you mean by ‘fetch quests’ Demon Lord Elissa, but your acceptance has been noted,” Justus immediately replied. All too keen to seal the deal, it seemed.
“Ask us individually to see what each task entails. For now, the Pentagram is adjourned, unless there are further matters to be discussed,” he added.
Mellow was about to say something, but then she stopped. Smirking. Pandora looked bored, as always. Justus seemed livelier than usual.
The Pentagram concluded. We were teleported back to our castle entrance together with Ao, who complimented us on our negotiating skills. What negotiating skills?! I felt like we got hoodwinked somehow! Maybe it would have been better to do things ourselves somehow. But, who was I kidding? We didn’t even know of the Saint of the Empire until we were told of her existence! Maybe if we had Tomiko we could teleport back to Wealdthurst, or what remained of it, to search for clues.
But at least we had a lead, and also these ‘tasks’ to do. Had we agreed too readily? I mean, it didn’t seem like we had much of a choice in the first place. Still, what did they want from us?
I guess there was no finding out like doing…
