The Former Demon Queen Struggles To Find Work

The atmosphere was still thick with tension. Everyone had just witnessed the former Demon Queen use her inhuman speed to grab a bunch of plates and catch falling food, all within a fraction of a second.

Mary's secret had just been exposed. Or so she thought.

"Oh m-my gosh! Y-you're incredible! How did you do that?"

The entire hall erupted in cheers, whistles, and applause. Voices rang out, celebrating what she had just done.

"Did you see that?" one of the men shouted from the crowd. "She just stopped a bunch of hot food from falling all over those people! She's a hero!"

"Umm..."

A confused Mary still carried the trays in her hands, unsure of what to do next or how to even respond to all the attention she was getting.

"Here, take this," she finally said, turning around to hand over the multiple bowls, plates, and cups of food to the waitress she had run into by accident.

"I'm sorry," Mary admitted. "It's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"No, p-please," the waitress replied. "I-I can be clumsy sometimes too. But thank you, really. You saved me."

"...!?"

Mary was momentarily speechless as the woman, who she could now clearly see possessed features similar to Gustav's—cat ears and a tail—took back the trays and went back to serving her customers. However, the adventurers in the hall continued to cheer, showering her with compliments.

They must have not truly understood what happened. Maybe they just assumed she had really good reflexes.

"Oh, thank you. But please, it's too much," Mary said, flustered. "I was just trying to help."

Mary made her way over to the counter, toward the girl who had called her over. The cheering had finally died down.

"Wow, that was incredible," the young receptionist said, her eyes wide. "I've never seen anyone move that fast."

"Hi there," the human girl continued, holding out her hand. "I'm Olivia. But you can call me Leafy. Everybody calls me Leafy."

"I'm Mary, and I..."

Mary wasn't entirely sure what to do. The girl had extended her hand between them. Did she want her to grab it? Pull it? Something else?

Mary hesitated, then reached out and gently took the girl's hand, holding it awkwardly for a moment before letting go. She needed to be very conscious of how much pressure she applied when touching people of other races. She wouldn't want to accidentally crush them with her overwhelming demon strength.

Gustav was still at her feet. She wished she could ask him for advice in this very moment, but she was pretty sure it wouldn't go over well if anyone saw her kneeling down to speak directly to her cat. People might think her a madwoman for talking to an animal, when in reality she would be simply communicating with him telepathically.

Or is that something people do? Do they have full conversations with their animal companions? Is that normal?

"Don't you know how to shake hands?" the girl asked, snapping Mary back to the present.

"Shake... hands?" Mary responded, confused.

"Yeah! Like this!"

Olivia—or, as she had introduced herself, Leafy—reached out and grabbed Mary's arm over the counter, demonstrating the motion.

"You present your hand like this as a greeting, then you take the other person's, and you move both your hands up and down. See? Simple as that."

Mary was hyper aware of how much force she used in the physical greeting. In fact, she wasn't using any at all. She just let the little human girl wobble her hand up and down clumsily like a wet noodle.

She must have not been doing it right because the girl soon withdrew her hand back with a slight grimace on her face.

"Don't you shake hands where you're from?" she asked.

Mary slowly shook her head side to side, deciding not to provide a story that might come off as suspicious. She simply replied, "I am not from here, so all of this is new to me."

"Oh, so you're a foreigner, huh? That's okay. In fact, that's why I called you over. I suspected as much. What do you need? What are you looking for?"

"I... I'm looking for work," Mary answered carefully. "I just moved here from out of the country, so I'm still getting my bearings. I want to start fresh and earn my keep."

"Oh, what kind of job?" Leafy asked, tilting her head.

"The kind... humans do. I-I mean, people like us... do," Mary replied, flashing a nervous smile. She almost blew her cover. She needed to stop isolating herself by saying the word humans all the time.

Leafy studied her for a moment, appearing to be lost in thought.

Mary's breath caught in her throat at the sight.

What? What is the matter? Why is she looking at me like that? Does she suspect me already? Does she see through the lies?

Mary was just about to burst from extreme nervous buildup when a cheerful expression returned to the girl's face. Leafy smiled and nodded.

"Alright, I think I know what you need. Come with me."

She stepped out from behind the counter and gestured for Mary to follow. Mary let out a relieved breath and did just that.

As the two walked, with Gustav still trotting close behind, Mary noticed the girl was a little on the shorter side. She wore a light long-sleeved shirt layered beneath a dark vest, paired with matching trousers and simple flat-soled shoes. Her wavy brown hair and warm hazel eyes matched the friendly smile on her face. She was really pretty, Mary observed.

"Over here. We have a board where people post jobs, odd tasks, delivery requests, that sort of thing. It's a good place to start."

Mary had to carefully hide her emotions behind a poker face and a fake smile as soon as she laid eyes on the guild board. Most of the tasks posted were related to demon attacks—destroyed homes, damaged lands, and reports from people who had lost everything.

Of course. It's always her people behind things like this.

"Are you okay?" Leafy asked, noticing the pained expression that briefly flickered across Mary's face.

Mary quickly hid it, further stretching her fake smile. "N-no, I'm fine. Just... surprised by how much... work... there is."

Leafy studied her for a moment, confused, but then nodded. "Anyway, come over here. This corner of the board has jobs I think you can do."

***

Mary's first job that morning after leaving the guild, where she had left Gustav in Leafy's care, was at a small bakery.

The owner was a kind woman who looked to be in her 40s. She greeted Mary warmly and invited her into her house. She led her to the back room, where she demonstrated how to prepare a dough by placing it on the table and beating it until it flattened.

Mary nodded with full enthusiasm and paid close attention to the instructions. And when it came time to replicate what the woman had showed her, she took the dough, pressed it against the table, and gave it a light tap with her fist.

The counter was instantly obliterated, flour and dough flying everywhere. Her hand had punched straight through the wood as if it were paper.

The old woman shouted in disbelief. "My table!"

"I'm sorry, madam! I'm so sorry!" Mary yelled in a nervous panic. "I-I miscalculated my own strength! Please give me a second chance!"

She kept bowing her head over and over, apologizing frantically, her voice cracking with shame.

"Just get out of my shop already! What kind of woman even are you?!"

...

Mary's second job was on a farm. The farmer handed her a sack of yams and melons and told her to carry it across the field to the barn. It was simple enough. There was no way she was going to mess this up like she did at the bakery.

Mary smiled, walked over to the bags, and carried each one on her shoulder like they weighed nothing. The farmer's eyes went wide at the sight of this young woman lifting his heaviest produce with ease. Mary caught his glance toward the trolley and realized he'd been expecting her to use it.

But that wasn't the deal breaker for him. The deal breaker came when he asked her to pull a carrot from the ground. Mary bent down, grabbed it, and squeezed gently to get a better grip. The carrot didn't come out—it just... exploded in her hand, crushed into a gooey pulp.

"No, no, no, let me try again," Mary said quickly.

She reached for another carrot.

Same thing.

Squash.

She reached for another one.

Same result.

Squash.

She kept trying.

Squash.

Squash.

Squash.

Each and every attempt ended with another vegetable reduced to mush in her grip. Before she knew it, she had destroyed an entire ridge of carrots.

The farmer stared at the mess of ruined crops.

"Perhaps farming isn't for you, dear."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir! Please forgive me!"

...

Her third job was as a package delivery runner. The merchant handed her parcels and a map, pointing out various addresses scattered across town.

"You will need to deliver this to the places marked in blue ink," he explained. "Be careful, take your time, and make sure each package reaches the right person."

Mary nodded as she studied the map for a moment before rolling it up and placing it in her dress pocket. She took off at what she thought was a normal pace, a light jog that she assumed would be a reasonable speed given her overwhelming abilities.

But what Mary considered "light" was, by normal standards, impossibly fast. She had once again miscalculated her capabilities as a former ruler of the underworld. Measuring her strength in human form was just too difficult compared to her demon form, where everything came naturally.

She delivered every package in under a minute each, barely breaking a sweat. She returned to the merchant, smiling with pride, ready for more work.

The man stared at her, his brow furrowed. "Are you sure you delivered all the items to the right places?"

"Yes," Mary replied, confused by his tone.

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"Because some of those packages had addresses in the further corners of town," the merchant said slowly, his voice rising with suspicion, "and you're telling me you finished delivering them all in under four minutes?"

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh is right!" the merchant snapped. "You're trying to swindle me! You probably didn't even deliver any of the packages, you just dumped them somewhere!"

"N-no, sir, I-I can assure you!"

"Stay right there while I call the authorities!" the merchant shouted, pointing a shaking finger at her. "You're in very big troub—hey! Hey! Where do you think you're going? Get back here!"

Mary didn't look back. She bolted out the door and disappeared down the street before he could even finish his sentence.

***

After an afternoon of complete and utter failure, Mary returned to the guild, defeated. It was already late in the evening, the sun having gone down a while ago. She found Leafy in the middle of playing with Gustav, who was sitting on the table, still as a black cat. Looked like they were the only two left.

"My empress, by the three heads of the great demon Subarus, I am delighted to see you back in one piece! Please tell this human that I am not a common house pet! She's been trying to feed me and get me to do tricks!"

Ignoring the demands of her complaining familiar, Mary slumped against the table next to them, groaning.

"Back already, huh?" Leafy said. "Let me guess, that last job also did not go as planned."

"No," Mary whined. "I keep accidentally messing up every task that was given to me today. All forty-two of them. I am hopeless."

She had basically spent the entire day breaking things around town. By now, word of her failures had probably spread through every shop and street corner. It was a miracle nobody had put the pieces together and exposed her secret.

"I still can't believe any one person can be that clumsy," Leafy admitted.

Mary just groaned harder in response.

Leafy scratched Gustav behind the ears, thoughtful.

"You know, if you're really that pressed for money, I could offer you a job working here at the Adventurer's Guild."

At the sound of that, the former queen's head shot up, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Y-you? You will give me a job? Is the guild hiring?"

"No, not really," Leafy replied absentmindedly, continuing to pet Gustav's head. "We're actually running quite high on efficiency right now, so I don't really need to hire new help at the moment."

"Oh," Mary replied, deflated.

"But..." Leafy continued, "that doesn't mean I cannot personally hire you as my assistant."

"Really? You would do that for me?"

"Yeah, why not?" Leafy said with a small smile. "You help me out with extra tasks, and we split my paycheck fifty-fifty."

Mary instantly stood up and began bowing in gratitude.

"Thank you, guild employee Leafy! Thank you so much!"

"Hey, no, no, it's fine. You don't have to thank me. Besides, there's also another reason why I'm doing this."

"Oh? What's that?" Mary asked, intrigued.

She noticed the knowing smile on Leafy's face as the girl stared back at her.

"Don't worry," Leafy said. "I'll tell you tomorrow when you show up for your first shift. Don't forget, 8:00 a.m. sharp, okay? Actually, make that 7:40."

"Yes," Mary replied, nodding. "I'll be here first thing in the morning at the break of dawn!"

"No, no, not the break of dawn," Leafy quickly corrected. "Just 7:40."

"Okay," Mary replied eagerly with a happy smile, practically shaking in her boots at the prospect of starting her new job.

"And please, just call me Leafy."