The Former Demon Queen Confesses. But Then...

After completing their list of recreational activities the day before, the girls decided to take it slow today by hanging out by the lake. Most of them went swimming, while the others simply relaxed nearby.

As usual, Chanchan was hanging upside down from a nearby mango tree, talking to herself as she continued reading her action fantasy novel.

Snowpoppy wasn't much of a swimmer, so she stayed beside Chanchan, seated on a mat and quietly watching the others by the lake.

Meanwhile, Lydia, Leafy, Mary, Maria, and Minimo were all playing in the water, splashing one another and laughing. The girls sported their brand-new hairstyles from the day before, and Mary still had the bandana tied around her head.

At one point, Maria decided to sneak up behind Lydia and surprise her with a playful grab around the elf's chest.

"Maria, what do you think you're doing?" Lydia exclaimed, her face turning bright red.

"Come on, there's plenty enough to go around, don't you think? Hehehe," Maria said with a dumb smirk on her face while continuing to fondle the elven girl.

Mary, Minimo, and Leafy could only stare in stunned horror.

"Maria, if you don't let go this second, I'm going to break your arms!"

"Come on, tell me!" Maria teased, still messing with Lydia. "How did you even get this big, anyway? Is it all that potion cooking you've been doing?"

Lydia scowled, the brow above her left eye twitching with frustration.

"Maria?"

"Hehehe."

"Let go!"

"Make me."

"I said let go!"

Lydia reached one hand behind her without turning around and pinched Maria sharply under the arm.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

Maria yelped, immediately releasing Lydia and swimming a few feet away, putting some distance between them.

"What was that for?" she complained.

Lydia raised an eyebrow.

"Give me a second."

She then dipped her head beneath the water and swam down.

A few moments later, Lydia resurfaced, holding what appeared to be some strange aquatic creature. It had a scorpion-like body, several tiny legs, and a polka-dotted shell. It wriggled and squirmed and chittered in her arms.

Lydia smiled mischievously.

"Guess who wants to say hi?"

Maria's eyes widened with terror.

"Get that thing away from me!"

Immediately, she began swimming away from the elven girl as fast as she could.

Lydia simply laughed and followed her around with the wriggling creature.

"Ahh, is that safe?" Mary, who had remained watching the exchange, asked, standing beside Minimo and Leafy in the water.

"Yeah," Leafy replied. "That's a Sapphire Springs water bug. They're generally harmless. Maria just doesn't like the way they look."

"Had enough yet?" Lydia asked as she continued chasing after the red-haired girl with the creature.

"Lydia! Ah! Get that thing away from me! Don't come any closer!"

"Just as long as you promise not to grab me like that again."

"Okay, I promise! I promise! Now stop following me with that disgusting thing!"

***

When night came, everybody was all but ready to call it a day. They sat around a campfire, eating the last of their remaining fruits, while Maria distributed the rest of the meat and sauce.

By tomorrow, it would be their last day at the springs, and the day after, they should be on their way back to town.

Despite the copious amount of fun Mary had had, she still missed Gustav, her familiar. She had left him all alone in Miss Eleanor's care back at the guild. Mary briefly wondered if the older woman was taking him home with her after closing hours, ever since they had left. Or was she feeding him and letting him sleep in the cozy break room of the adventurers guild. Either way, she was certain he was doing just fine.

"All right, all right," Lydia said, getting to her feet and opening up a coconut, using the shell like a cup.

All of the girls stopped their side discussions and laughter to listen in, including Mary.

"I just want to use this moment to congratulate Maria on her wonderful food. Her skills have definitely improved. Thank you, Maria," Lydia added.

Maria blushed as everybody applauded and congratulated her.

"Aha, and I would also like to welcome our newest member, employee, and sister at the guild, Mary. We were a little disappointed when you initially chose not to come with us, but we're glad you changed your mind at the last minute. It's our little tradition to go on vacation at least once every three months, and we're glad you decided to keep the tradition with us now."

"Yeah!"

"Woohoo!"

The girls whooped and cheered.

Mary, feeling like she wanted to say something to the girls, stood up despite her slightly flustered state. She grabbed her coconut and went to stand in front of the campfire, turning around to address the girls.

Seeing this, everyone quieted down.

"Want to say something, Mary?" Lydia asked.

Mary nodded silently.

"Okay, then. Go ahead."

Mary waited for a moment, letting the weight of what she was about to say hang in the air. She was ready to take Snowpoppy's advice. She was done hiding. She wanted to tell the truth to the girls. She wanted them to know.

There would never be a better time, she thought.

"I want to say something," Mary said, pausing as she listened to the crackle of the fire behind her and the distant buzzing of cicadas in the forest.

All of the girls appeared to draw closer in anticipation of her words.

"I'm really happy and glad to have all of you in my life. This past month has been one of the greatest months I've had since I was born."

Well, there was no going back now. It might have sounded like Mary was exaggerating, but for the first time in a while, she was honestly telling the truth.

"I mostly spent my early years with my mother, growing up in hiding, and never really got to experience the joys of a free, peaceful life. Part of that time was spent training non-stop under harsh conditions to prepare for a position of the greatest title known to my people."

As Mary spoke, she could see the expressions on the girls' faces slowly shifting from wonder and curiosity into worry and confusion. They were probably wondering what it must have been like growing up in Luma Falanoma, the fake village she had made up as part of her backstory, as well as all of the other gibberish she was talking about.

What they didn't know was that Mary wasn't talking about some distant human homeland. She was talking partly about the Demon Realm.

"So, from the bottom of my heart... I really want to say thank you."

She set the coconut down on the ground beside her, then placed both hands over her chest and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for being my friends. For giving me a job. For taking me around the market. For teaching me about ordinary social customs, about food, about fruits and vegetables. For choosing to stand by me and protect me in difficult situations. And for choosing to become my new family. I really appreciate everything you've done for me."

She took a slow breath, still bowing.

"So, I understand if, after I tell you what I'm about to tell you, you begin to see me differently, and banish me, and exile me, warning me to never step foot in town ever again. But I want you to know that I won't ever fault any of you. Whatever way you see me next, the blame falls squarely on my shoulders."

Lydia slowly stood to her feet.

"What are you talking about, Mary?" she said. "What's going on? What are you trying to say?"

Mary straightened up, clasping her hands together in an apologetic manner in front of her stomach.

"Mary isn't my real name," she said, lowering her gaze and refusing to meet their eyes from shame.

All of the girls gasped in confusion.

"I don't really come from a village called Luma Falanoma, as it isn't a real place to begin with. I made it up."

The girls gasped again.

"I've been lying to you about who I really am from the very beginning. And I'm sorry."

Her vision was starting to swim with a rush of incoming tears.

The revelation left all of the girls frozen with disbelief. Lydia stormed forward, gently grabbing Mary by the hands and looking directly into the former Demon Queen's eyes.

"What are you saying, Mary?" she asked. "Are you joking? Is this some kind of bad joke? Why are you telling us all of this? Why are you telling us this story?"

Mary gently pulled her arms away from the older girl's grasp, then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before continuing. She needed to finish what she had started. She couldn't allow herself to break down now. Not here.

"The reason I'm so strong, why I'm so fast, and why I can do all the things I do... even why I accidentally break things..."

She paused.

"It's because I'm not really human."

Another pause.

"I'm a..."

"Demon!"

Maria instantly let out a scream and jumped to her feet, pointing a finger.

For a moment, a wave of emotion washed over Mary. So this was it. Her secret had finally been revealed, and her world was about to come crashing down. The girls would reject her, and everything she had built with them would fall apart.

But then Mary looked at their expressions. They weren't looking at her. In fact, Maria wasn't even pointing at her. She was pointing toward the sky, her gaze fixed on something above them.

Cautiously, Mary followed their collective gaze, the situation with her all but forgotten at this point. And what she saw left her speechless, with the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

The sky above was packed with demons. Hundreds of them, flying in from the direction of the east.

Mary recognized them instantly. They weren't normal demons, the intelligent kind. They were wild demons, designed specifically for warfare. Most of them sported familiar armor and weapons, and Mary knew exactly whose forces they belonged to.

Emilia.

She was here.

Meanwhile, the girls stared upward in horror, mumbling among themselves as they tried to understand what was happening.

"Wait, where are they all headed?" Mary heard Lydia ask from the group of girls, who all continued to stare up at the ever-growing army of demons. From the looks of it, they were all flying in one direction. The same direction Mary and the girls had taken when coming to Sapphire Springs.

Oh no.

Something in the pit of Mary's stomach dropped at the realization.

Blendingbrook.

They were headed toward Blendingbrook..