Third Time's The Charm?

I failed again. However, I haven’t exactly been rejected. At least, not yet.

The first two times I have obviously done something to upset the Demon Queen. So, I’m currently wracking my brain, reflecting on what I had been doing wrong so I wouldn’t be making the same mistake twice.

The first mistake was proposing marriage too quickly.

The second mistake was picking flowers from the palace garden, which I assume is tended to by the Demon Queen herself based on her parting words.

Furthermore, I’ve already upset her twice, so I’m also busy thinking of ways to apologize for those things. But, I wasn’t sure what I should be doing so I went around the camp asking for advice.

Sure enough, the most common answer to bring for an apology is flowers. But, I was already planning to bring some as a gift regardless. I felt that I had to give something else. The second most common answer was food, particularly chocolates, so that was what I went with.

The sweets were easy enough to procure as some of the men brought chocolates for their personal supply. I simply bought it from someone willing to sell some to me.

The flowers, the red carnations, I had to buy from the same village I had gone to yesterday.

With these two gifts, I made my way back into the city. This time, I managed to bring the items with me undamaged by fortifying them with my gift. I had this idea after my encounter with the Demon Queen last night, and I was sure glad it worked to make objects water-repellent as well!

However, when I landed on the palace grounds after jumping over its walls like I’ve done twice before, I was met by some deep growling. A four-legged creature at least three feet tall with jet black fur and bright red eyes was facing me, snarling at me.

It was a hellhound.

Although, while these creatures do look menacing, my experience with them didn’t seem too different from a normal dog. In fact, this particular hellhound looks like a slightly larger doberman. They were pretty much dogs.

So, while not making eye contact but at the same time not looking away from this particular pooch, I tried to feel the ground with one hand - as my other hand was holding on to the gifts - for something useful.

All I could find under the grass was a somewhat circular rock. But, it was something I thought I could use.

I then whistled at the hellhound.

“Here, boy”, I said to it while showing the rock and whistling some more. I then threw it to the side and shouted, “Fetch!”

It didn’t react. Not only that, it started barking at me loudly and violently that I decided to run.

Unsurprisingly, it chased after me.

Maybe I should have looked for a twig instead. But, as the area I’ve been dropping into was pretty much lawn, that seemed like wishful thinking. Then again, there was no guarantee a twig would distract the hellhound.

In any case, the hellhound was chasing me as I ran across the palace walls. It was barking so loudly I was afraid it would alert the guards.

I could make it go quiet if I killed it, but I figured hurting it would make the Demon Queen hate me so I restrained myself. I figured there was a decent chance it might just be her beloved pet.

Having no other choice, I jumped back outside. I could still hear it barking from the other side so I hurriedly fled away from the walls.

I was completely unprepared for the extra security. I couldn’t help but wonder if the palace guards beefed it up because of those weirdos from the other night. But, I didn’t let that discourage me from meeting the Demon Queen.

I moved to the other end of the hill and jumped over the wall, only to be met by a hellhound immediately leaping at me with its jaws wide open.

Luckily, I was able to notice it quickly. I defended myself by fortifying the bouquet I had and blocking the pooch’s mouth with the flower end.

However, that enabled the hellhound to bite and grab the bouquet. When it landed on its feet, it started pulling so we were in a tug-o-war with the flowers in between us. I could undo the fortification of the bouquet to get out of its grip, but the flowers would get destroyed if I did.

The hellhound tried thrashing its head to make me let go, but I enhanced my arm to counteract its strength. Realizing that move didn’t work, it tried pulling harder as it growled to intimidate me.

I wasn’t intimidated, although I was perplexed on what I should do. I could shake the pooch off with my strength, but I might hurt it in the process.

Then, in the middle of my thoughts, I heard barking from a distance. I looked at the hellhound, its teeth still holding on to the flower end of the bouquet. It didn’t seem like it barked, otherwise it would have let go.

I heard the barks again, this time closer. I haven’t taken my sight away from the dog in front of me so I was sure it wasn’t this one.

I glanced to my right and there was another hellhound running full speed towards me. Its barking sounded like the one I met earlier.

I braced for its attack, but I expected it to jump at me, not aim at my ankles. I was poised to crouch, so I barely managed to let it run through beneath me by raising one of my legs.

Meanwhile, the second hellhound was still pulling, causing me to lose balance as I was standing on one leg and forced me to take a step forward.

The first hellhound didn’t give me time to think about my next move and leaped at me for a bite.

I evaded it by jumping forward, which caused the second hellhound to look up and lose its grip on the bouquet. I saw it as a chance to get away from them.

I figured they wouldn’t be able to chase me through the air, so I jumped towards the palace, to an open window on the third floor.

Naturally, the two dogs tried to follow me, but they were rooted on the ground below me, barking as loud as they could. The guards seem to have finally taken notice as they checked on the hellhounds, but I wasn’t going to stick around for long.

I made my way to the throne room where I was met by the Demon Queen as soon as I opened the door.

“I knew it was you”, she said with her flamberge pointed at me.

“I’m flattered that you were expecting me”, I commented cheerfully.

“With all that noise, how can I not think it was you?”

“Well, the other day the guards were talking about some weirdos, which is why I think you’ve put guard dogs in place.”

“You’re the weirdo I told them to watch out for!” she shouted, exasperated.

“Huh? Why?”

“Why, you ask?! Don’t you think it’s weird for you to suddenly come here and ask me to marry you?!”

“No? When I saw you, I immediately felt that I wanted to marry you”, I said with a straight face.

“That doesn’t make any sense! Why would you, a human, want to marry me?”

“It’s because you’re beautiful.”

“Wha-?” The Demon Queen flinched. Her face slightly turned red. Then, meekly, she asked, “What else?”

“D-don’t fall for it, my queen!” one of her advisers nervously shouted. “It’s a trap to let your guard down!”

“I’d like to hear it regardless”, she replied decisively without looking away from me. She then lowered her sword and returned her tone to a shyer one as she asked me, “What else?”

“You have a pretty face”, I answered.

“And?”

I tried thinking of something else, but all I could answer was, “You’re beautiful.”

“I’ve already heard that.”

“Uhh…” I suddenly found myself at a loss for words. I never realized finding other words to tell a girl she’s beautiful can be nerve-wracking, especially with a limited vocabulary, so my brain froze.

“You have a pretty face”, I said again.

“Is that all you have to say?!” The Demon Queen now looked bemused.

"Oh, but you are pretty beautiful."

"You just mixed the same two words together!" She took offense with that and attacked me with the same fire magic she used to send me flying before.

But, I dodged it.

“Why did you evade that?! That’s your cue to exit the scene like the last couple of times!”

“Well, I’ve already seen that move twice before, of course I would now know how to avoid it,” I replied. “Besides, if we keep ending our encounters that way, the readers will quickly get bored of us.”

“I don’t care! It’s obvious your proposal is a trap!”

“That’s not true, I-”

I wasn’t able to finish what I was about to say as I suddenly heard barking across the hallway. It was the two hellhounds, and they brought backup! There are now a dozen hostile black dogs coming for me!

“For you”, I shoved my gifts to the Demon Queen and fled into the night being chased by dogs.