A Demon Lord Who Just Wants Peace

“How long does a peace treaty between two nations actually last? Up until one of the leaders is replaced with the wrong person? Or until an entire nation’s population collectively changes their minds on the other nation? When it comes to peaceful relationships between two people, I believe this connection is formed because one person is convinced that the other person is a good friend. But what if there was a third party who had something negative to say about one of them? Does that one person’s bad opinion hold so much power to break up that relationship?”

Kitezh was having a good dream. It was the kind where she was fully conscious and could interact with people in the dream. As soon as she worked up the courage to join a pool party with nameless people, she felt a painful stinging sensation.

“OW! NADIA!” screamed Kitezh.

“Ohoho, so a belt works just as well!” said Nadia playfully, as she looked at the leather belt in her hands.

Kitezh was rubbing her butt again, but realized her clothes were different. She was in her underwear. Her helmet was also removed, making everyone visible.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if you had some reset button or something, so I had to pull it off your head to fix myself,” said Nadia

“Where are my clothes, you skank?!” shouted Kitezh.

“I thought you would be more comfortable like this!”

“More enjoyable for you, pervert!”

Kitezh had a thorough look around the room. It was a cozy lounge area. Kitezh was sleeping on the couch. The room had highly patterned tapestries and carpets.

“We’re at the tavern from yesterday. But like, not the bar area. That part is still destroyed. We need to clean that or I might get a spanking myself, ohoho,” laughed Nadia

“What do you mean by ‘we’. I’ll gladly leave if that’s your punishment.”

“Hmph! If you won’t help, maybe Jadwiga will be a better waitress.”

“Mmmph! Ermmmph!” Jadwiga said with a muffled voice.

Jadwiga was also down to her underwear, but tightly bound with ropes and her mouth gagged with a cloth. Kitezh gasped at the sight.

“So, I just let this girl live just so she can be your sex pet?” Kitezh asked.

“I said we were going to get answers out of this girl,” replied Nadia.

Nadia petted Jadwiga’s hair, as she stared back in anger.

“I wasn’t really sure which thing would be her phenomenon item, so I just stripped her down to her bra and panties!” Nadia said enthusiastically.

“And what if her phenomenon item is her panties?”

“Relax, I already did a test.

Nadia flipped Jadwiga over so she was lying on her front side on the bed. Her arms were tied in an X shape.

Nadia put a small rock in Jadwiga’s left hand. She grabbed her right hand, and forced her to gesture a gun at herself.

“Come on, shoot me!”

Nadia jerked Jadwiga’s hand in a way like she was shooting. Nothing was happening. Jadwiga eventually let go of the rock in her left hand.

“Well, maybe she is just simply refusing to attack, but I think she’s neutralized, and that’s all that matters,” said Nadia.

“I’m pretty sure the backpack is her item. Unless animated threads are something common in this world, I think they scream 'I am the phenomenon item'. We can still ask her about it, and hope she tells the truth,” Kitezh commented.

“That won’t be difficult, ohoho!”

“Mmmmph,” moaned Jadwiga, as Nadia groped her breasts.

“Can you not use her as your personal sex toy?” Kitezh asked angrily.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re now one of those ‘I killed thousands of people, but if I kill the big bad guy, I’ll be worse than Demon Lord’, are you?” joked Nadia.

Kitezh got up and shoved Nadia away from Jadwiga in frustration.

Kitezh pulled out the cloth from Jadwiga’s mouth. She breathed heavily. Kitezh looked down at her. She pondered her pool of questions until she finally settled on one.

“Are you working for the Demon Lord,” asked Kitezh.

Jadwiga hesitated for a moment.

“It’s not what you think,” Jadwiga grumbled.

SMACK!

“You wanted to kill me and Nadia. Are we the evil ones in your story or something?” yelled Kitezh.

“It would be a lot easier to kill or capture you to explain everything.”

“Excuse me? Kill me? How do you expect me to listen to you when I’m dead?! The Demon Lord plans to resurrect me as his minion?”

Jadwiga sighed in annoyance.

“I would like to make one thing very clear to you two right now. Get this whole ‘Demon Lord’ thing out of your system right now. This paragon of darkness is all exaggerated nonsense. What you’re referring to is much more complex than this.”

“Are you going to say this Demon Lord is someone with a tragic backstory, and we’re destroying his race’s way of living or something? Great, more philosophical crap to make this problem more convoluted,” said Kitezh.

“It’s not exactly that. To be honest, I don’t even know what his final goal is going to be. However, he says this is for the better, and I trust him,” said Jadwiga.

“I will judge myself then. Who is this ‘Demon Lord’?” asked Kitezh.

“To start, the Demon Lord is not some being with infinite evil power. He is more of a messiah with limited power. In our circle, he is referred to as Koschei. He has a top subordinate who carries out his commands. That guy is like a high-ranking priest, but some of us say he is considered the REAL Demon Lord since he is more active, I should say. His commands go down to people like me.”

“So either way, the Demon Lord’s commands were to kill me. I don’t know where the ‘good’ part of that is.”

“Kitezh, I first want to make sure. Have we had a similar end to our previous lives? Were you not naturally born into this world?”

Kitezh was stunned for a moment.

“Well, yeah. That is true. Though, uh, I don’t like to think back on it. It’s sort of embarrassing,” Kitezh said quietly.

“Was it something like, you were with someone so evil that you’d rather die than continue the path your life was heading?”

Kitezh was stunned once more.

“Yeah, it was something like that. I didn’t die. I was about to pass out. And then suddenly-“

“Did you remember a voice before the moment you got here?”

“You’ll be a fascinating phenomenon,” Kitezh remembered.

“I got the same message as you. According to what I was told, that was the voice of Koschei,” said Jadwiga.

“Koschei? Hold on. In my previous mission, I was up against another phenomenon, Lev. He was working for the Demon Lord. So, did he have the same fate as the two of us?”

“Most likely yes. Think about it Kitezh. We had a rough end to our lives, and we were suddenly given another chance here. The Demon Lord that this world is trying to destroy is actually Koschei, who saved us and brought us here! In fact, he basically made you the hero of your city!”

Kitezh couldn’t wrap her head around all of this. She was transported to this world by some Demon Lord person? Something didn’t add up in her head.

“If I’m supposed to have a much better life here, why did you want to kill me? Wasn’t that an order by Koschei?”

Jadwiga took a deep breath.

“Originally, I wasn’t supposed to kill you. I was supposed to bring you back to Koschei’s realm alive. However, we were informed of something new. We could take dead phenomena as well.”

“What use would a dead person have for Koschei?”

“According to what I was told, this is part of his plan. Just like how he saved us from our previous lives, he promises that even after death, we’re all going to our personal heaven. Despite what this ‘Demon Lord’ is doing to this world currently, everything will end with something much more peaceful.”

“You make it sound like no matter what, I’m going to die as part of his plan. But, if you’re working for this Koschei guy, does that also mean, uh…“

Jadwiga locked her eyes with Kitezh.

“Yes, I’m supposed to die, too.”