Chapter 22:

The Daily Grind IV

The Demon Lord Shouldn’t Be At This Much Of A Disadvantage!!: What do you mean the descendants of the Heroes are overpowered due to nepotism?


Number of times König Geistdunkelrustung has resurrected: 74

While life continued for the people of Facide, Geist’s only exposure to the country's goings-on continued to be through Inessa and Lylia. To say that learning about a place by listening to two women complain about separate aspects of it didn’t lend to learning the full scope of the society would be an understatement. However, in the nearly two and a half months since he was brought to Facide, he had learned much. Not just from his two executioners or the memories of his predecessors, but, from Inessa in particular, how to wield a sword and defend himself effectively.

“I’m telling you, I’m trying to get Liamion to understand my feelings, but everyone around him is telling him to be more assertive…” After recent developments, the public perspective had shifted to view the second prince and Champion as future partners. As such, most of the brunette’s complaints had become about how the impressionable young man had been coaxed into making unwanted advances on her. “But he’s more like a kid brother to me than anything!”

As she complained, Geist was struggling to parry and dodge her sword swings, failing far more times than not. The biggest problem is that my body can’t keep up with what I want to do. I can see most of her strikes, but she’s just too fast. Trying to analyze and figure out a more efficient fighting style, she was stacking up damage on him quickly, even without the use of her Techniques. And with every now wound her blade struck, his Dark Magic Corruption value would decrease.

Hit Points: 298/628 | Mana: 555/555 | Stamina: 57/157
Dark Magic Corruption: 12/100

There’s only so much I can–?!

“Gesity!? You’re not even listening!” Interrupting his thoughts with a strong blow using the flat of her blade to smack him on the head, Inessa pouted in adorable anger, puffing out her cheeks. “If you’re going to be in your own head, I’ll just kill you and play with Varney until I have to go home.”

The unexpected attack caused the towering, dark-armored demon to collapse face down on the ground. “While I still have Hit Points to spare, if you killed me right now, I wouldn’t be able to revive.” He said, slowly sitting up.

“Is that so? Then we can take a break.” She replied, sheathing her sword and unhesitatingly turning her back on him. “Varney~ You can come out.”

From a shadowed corner of one of the still-standing structures around them, a small, winged creature, about a big as a person’s head, swooped down and tackled the golden-armored girl in that chest. Most of its size was from the fluffy, soft fur that covered its rather lithe, gangly body, giving it the appearance of a ball of fur with wings when tucking in its legs for flight. The only other part of its body not concealed by the puffed-up, dark brown fur was its snouted face, smaller than the palm of her hand, but with eyes a third the size of her fist. The two fangs set in its top jaw protruded a couple centimeters out of its mouth, capable of puncturing even thin plates of armor if needed.

“Aww~ I missed you too~” Inessa cooed, hugging the monstrous creature as it wrapped its wings around her and licked her face. “Who’s a good boy? Is it you? Yes, it is. Yes, it is~”

Catching his breath as he watched the bizarre, heartwarming scene before him, Geist scooched back to a partially destroyed wall to lean against. “I still can’t believe Lylia let you keep him.”

Turning back to face him, cradling the affectionate creature in her arms, Inessa beamed a bright smile. “I know, right? I thought she’d be completely against it. Especially since I found him while we were still cleaning up the mess in Dhanfell.”

*****

Number of times König Geistdunkelrustung has resurrected: 66

“You can not be serious, Essa…” The blonde said, keeping her voice low so the people nearby didn’t overhear them. However, with her arms crossed and glaring at the small, but still very deadly, monster being sheltered in her friend's arms, her expression screamed in the disbelief her voice couldn’t. “The people of Dhanfell actually have a positive view of you right now, and you decided to take that as a pet.”

“But I already Tamed him. He’s totally docile now.” Inessa countered, holding out the slightly confused, as of yet unnamed, winged monster, as if that proved her point.

He merely cocked his head as he looked at the Saintess, with his thin, long tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

“I wasn’t his fault he got Corrupted, right? But monsters can’t be purified like lesser demons can, so keeping him as a pet was the only thing I could think of.” She continued, hugging him close again.

Rubbing her temple and shaking her head, Lylia let out a long, exasperated sigh. “When did you even learn… Wait. You were not seriously going to try and Tame–”

“Geisty was taken off the list when I learned he used to be human.” Knowing that Lylia was the only person who could have guessed the true purpose of the ‘Tame’ skill she learned, Inessa blushed at what the implications of such a thing would mean now. “But… I had already learned it by then. But look at this little cutie~ Killing him would be a sin.”

“I can smell the scent of blood on him, Essa. He attacked the people here.” Lylia said, trying to reason with her.

“He was just hungry. I’ll feed him my blood from now on if I have to.” Inessa countered, justifying her new pet’s past actions.

“And where are you going to keep him? Even if other people occasionally Tame monsters, they are typically either eccentrics, researchers, or eccentric researchers. Not exactly people with the best reputations.” The blonde argued, placing a hand on her hip.

“That’s why I’m asking you if it’s okay if I keep him… I was thinking of leaving him at Geisty’s place, but I didn’t want you to show up and kill him, thinking he was a random monster.” The brunette said, having uncharacteristically thought her decision through pretty thoroughly. “I know I can’t keep him with me, but I can visit when it’s my turn to go get Mana Crystals from Geisty. And Corrupted don’t need food or water if there is enough Dark Magic Corruption in the area. It’s the perfect place for him.”

Thinking about the proposition, Lylia couldn’t think of a reason to not allow it. So long as nobody else learned of the monster’s existence, which they would have to travel days through the Badlands to do so, then the risks were nearly nonexistent.

Looking at the somewhat dopey face of the flying monster, then to the pleading face of her friend, Lylia shifted her weight on her feet and shrugged. “Sure. I just have to not kill the furball, right? Just make sure you don’t bring him back with you. Understood?”

*****

While she had explained most of the situation around her bat-like pet to Geist when it was her turn again to come kill him, Inessa specifically left out the part of her initially intending to try and make him her pet instead.

“Well, he seems to be doing fine. It’s not like I can watch over him when you’re not here.” He joked, getting to his feet and motioning for Varney to fly over to him.

Typically, even with the Demon Monarch’s influence over Corrupted, the Tamed monster’s loyalties would remain staunchly in Inessa’s favor. However, the bond created between master and pet only resists those with hostile intentions of influencing them. As such, the dark-furred creature was happy to get pampered by the gentle being in big, intimidating armor.

“Varney, you traitor…” Quickly crossing the room so she could continue to pet her pet, Inessa let out a weary sigh. “Seriously though, I’ll be happy when we get back to the capital at the end of the week. With Liamion being told to all but force himself on me, coming here and the weekly nights out with Lia are the only times I’ve been able to relax lately.”

“You know, I’ve had time to go through the memories of the past Demon Monarchs, and I’ve noticed something a bit off about Facide,” Geist said, looking at the blissful expression on the little flying furball’s face as it got pampered by both the Demon Monarch and the Champion simultaneously. “From what I know of the technological and societal levels of the kingdom, it doesn’t sound like the kingdom has progressed at all since Chrysaor’s reign. Other than the obvious comforts of magical resources, this place has remained medieval for thousands of years.”

“What’s so weird about that?” Inessa asked, focusing more on Varney than the topic of discussion.

“Well, believe it out not, but the medieval times on Earth were only roughly 500 to 1000 years ago, assuming you were born around the 21st century.” He explained, though his knowledge of past eras didn’t extend much past simple trivia. “Maybe it is because the conveniences magic afforded them, or how they were coddled by the Goddess Lini, or it might even be part of Chrysaor’s Curse, but don’t you think they should be a bit more ‘modern’ with the long history they have?”

Stopping to consider his point, Inessa shrugged. “I never considered it before, but I’m sure there is some reason for it. Though I wouldn’t complain if they could progress to the point of not having minors marry and start families. That would be nice.” She said, taking Varney from his arms and snuggling him close. “Okay, buddy. Mommy’s gonna kill Daddy real quick, then we can play a bit more before I have to go.”

“I thought you didn’t want to start a family yet,” Geist said sarcastically, readying his greatsword as she drew her blade.

“Fur babies don’t count.” She said, lunging at him, electing not to use her Techniques or the abilities granted to her by her Divine Artifacts. “And I said I don’t want to marry kids or be the mistress to some old guy. You’re the perfect Daddy for Varney, Geisty~ Or did you want him to have two Mommies instead, and you can be the fun uncle?”

“Between the three of us…” Struggling to keep up with her assault, Geist strained to speak. “I think Lylia is the one who would benefit the most from having the security of a family.”

Halting mid-swing, Inessa’s expression softened as she looked up at him. “You noticed too?”

*****

Because the King’s Council had a regularly scheduled meeting that day, Inessa had to make her report on the status of the Demon Monarch without Lylia to navigate the political environment for her. And without the Saintess there, that gave other members of the Council the chance to subtly press her on her relationship with Prince Liamion.

After they dismissed the Champion and the chamber was sealed once more, the subject of how to proceed with plans concerning her naturally dominated the discussion.

“She is completely uninterested in Liamion as well? How can this be?” Princess Cynthia asked, more to herself than anyone else, stressing the fan she was holding between her hands. “What sort of standards does she believe a man needs to meet?”

“Though We were opposed to the idea of allowing Our precious boy’s bloodline to be tainted with Otherworlder influence… to think that she would reject his advances is equally vexing.” The queen begrudgingly agreed, clenching her teeth.

“By my estimates, both the Champion and Saintess should have accumulated over half of the Experience they would need to reach Level 11, too,” Mars added, ensuring that the danger they so carelessly overlooked for so long wasn’t forgotten again.

“We should have enough Mana Crystals to perform the Champion-Summoning Ritual again.” Oscar Sr. reported, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Th-Though, given how quickly the Demon Monarch, König Geistdunkelrustung, resurrects, we would not have time to properly train a new Champion to be ready to eliminate him.”

“Can we not leave that up to the Saintess for a while?” Victoria asked.

“Complaints about the current Saintess’... confrontational personality have been reaching my ears more as of late. I fear that she may also be straying from her faith, if not aligning herself too much with the Champion.” The holy, older woman said with a weary sigh. “Honestly, that child has been a problem ever since the former Saintess brought her into the church. Had she not been named the next Saintess…”

The circumstances the Council found themselves in were about as undesirable as if the Champion were openly rebelling against them. There needed to be a balance maintained between the Champion and Saintess, neither dominating the other, but the amount of Experience either was gaining daily meant having one shoulder the burden for too long would allow them to gain too much power.

“There is one possible solution.” Oscar Sr. said, before too much deliberation could set in. “After some research into the Champion-Summoning Ritual, I have discovered that it is possible to boost the level of the body created to host the Champion’s soul, but only during the ritual as it is created. It would require more resources, least of which being a non-insignificant increase to the amount of Mana Crystal needed to perform the ritual.”

“How much longer would it take to procure these resources?” The King asked.

“Roughly two more weeks, Your Majesty, for the Mana Crystals specifically. The rest of the materials can be transported to the capital within the week.” He replied.

Nodding in approval of the preparedness of the minister who oversaw the material resources of the kingdom, the King had only one other question. “And what justification have you prepared so that the people will accept the summoning of a new Champion so quickly?”

“That will be a bit trickier with the recent incident in Dhanfell,” Mars said aloofly. “The news of the Champion and Saintess rushing to the people’s aid has already reached here. The criticisms of them ‘depriving’ people of Mana Crystals have not fully vanished, but have diminished considerably.”

There was a long silence in the room as the most influential minds in Facide pondered the issue.

And the one to break the silence was the ever-cunning Frist Princess. “Then, all that is needed is a tragedy to turn those cheers back into the whispers of denouncement and suspicion they were previously.”