Rise Up

“Just five more minutes, please.”

That was the Demon Queen, still in bed, pleading to her adviser, the Leopardess, who is trying to wake her up.

It has been ten days since the Human Army stopped besieging Qoshiegh. It takes roughly a month to travel to the nearest human country, but all the reports state they’ve been steadily marching back to their realm.

It has also been ten days since the last battle with the Hero. The Demon Queen had the opportunity to finally kill him along with some allies, but, unfortunately for her, he managed to escape along with his blonde friend. Although, for some reason unknown to her, he hasn’t made an appearance since then.

Consequently, as there haven’t been any major events, the Demon Queen started thinking it was already safe to sleep in on the mornings again starting today.

As she drifted into slumber, she started dreaming.

She saw herself in a field of flowers, watching her dog, Angelica, run around chasing butterflies along with the other hellhounds in the palace.

Meanwhile, she was talking to the Leopardess who is speaking in gibberish for some reason. She couldn’t make out what was being said to her, but she kept agreeing to everything regardless.

While still in the middle of the incomprehensible conversation, one of the hellhounds ran up to her. Standing on its hind legs and leaning on the Demon Queen’s legs, it seemed to be wanting some attention.

The Demon Queen crouched down to pet it, but it suddenly spoke, “Will you marry me?”

She rubbed her eyes and, after opening them again, what she found was the Hero’s head in place of the hound’s.

That caused her to immediately snap out of her sleep and jump up from her bed in cold sweat.

She didn’t have time to mull over the dream if it meant anything as the Leopardess, along with two maids, were at her bedside.

“I bring urgent news, my Queen,” the Leopardess said, looking distressed. “You have to get up post-haste.”

The Demon Queen was still slightly dazed from her sudden awakening, but she was lucid enough to realize there was some sort of emergency. Further, that dream she just had gave her a feeling of dread.

Hurriedly, she grabbed her coat and wore it over her pajamas. She then picked up her sword and ran out of her bedroom.

Outside, she declared, “I knew it!”

There, she found the Hero, unarmed and unarmored as usual, loitering in the waiting room adjacent to her bedroom.

“Hello there”, he said with a welcoming smile as he presented another bouquet of red carnations. “How have you been this past week? I missed you.”

The Demon Queen responded by charging at him with her sword. Simultaneously, while attempting to slash his neck, she replied, “I was doing well until you showed up!”

The Hero ducked, but she wasn’t sure if it was his intent to kneel as well.

Still with the bouquet in front of him, he said, “I bring you gifts, which I’m very sure you’ll be happy about this time.”

“No matter how many flowers you bring”, she said as she swung her sword downwards.

The Hero avoided it by leaping sideways.

“Or chocolates”, as she thrusted towards him as he was still off balance.

But, he also managed to avoid that by using his momentum and hopping on one foot away from the Demon Queen’s reach.

“Or cookies”, as she chased after him to swing her sword at his waist.

But, he jumped out of the way again.

Incidentally, all his evading took him towards the door leading outside of the room.

Seeing this, the Demon Queen casts a spell to unleash a strong blast of air towards the Hero while saying, “Your gifts can never make me happy!”

Her attack sent the Hero forcefully flying backwards, breaking the wooden double door and forcing it to open outwards.

The Demon Queen followed him out to the hallway. She wasn’t about to give him a moment’s rest as she rushed to stab him in the chest.

The Hero twisted his body with him leaning backwards to go below the path of the sword.

“Trust me, you’ll love this one for sure!” he said as the two of them paused without changing their poses for a moment.

“That’s just it”, she replied as she raised her flamberge. Before swinging it down, she continued, “I have no trust in you.”

The Hero jumped backwards to evade it and said, “Okay, you don’t have to trust me for now.”

He then avoided a swing of the sword upon his left.

“But, at least come with me outside.”

“And then what?” she asked while casting a fireball spell to attack the Hero. "Have you had your army return? Are they going to ambush me once I'm outside the city gates?"

“I don’t mean out the gates”, he replied as he sidestepped the fireball. A second fireball followed, which he rolled sideways to avoid. Upon recovering, he said, “I mean, just outside the palace.”

This alarmed the Demon Queen, who glanced back to her open room where the Leopardess and the two maids were poking their heads out to watch the fight.

“Outside?” she asked her adviser.

The Leopardess nodded her head and said, “Yes, but…”

The Demon Queen didn’t let her finish as she blanked upon hearing the first word, which prompted her to charge at the Hero again.

“You’ve occupied the city?!” she shouted. “Then, even if I lose this war, I will have your head at least.”

She then aimed to slash the Hero’s neck again. While she missed, she didn’t stop attacking as she swung down on his right, then his left, then his torso, attacking different parts seemingly at random, but she was still well in control.

At the same time, the Hero had an idea. As the Demon Queen followed him at every step, he just had to let her come after him.

He tried leading her to a room where the thing he wanted to show can be seen from the window. However, they were at the top floor. It was a height where they can’t see anything directly below without poking their head out. But, instead of asking her to look, he ran towards one and leaped out.

Instinctively, the Demon Queen followed him, but only to look out the window to see if he had fallen to his death. To her surprise, she found the Hero had been safely caught by the people on the ground.

Initially, she thought it was the Human Army, but a closer look caused her to stare in disbelief. The crowd weren’t humans.

“Come on down”, the Hero shouted to her as he surfed the crowd.

After gathering herself, she heeded the Hero and went down. Normally through the stairs, of course, so, by the time she met the group, the Hero was already standing on his feet.

“What is all this?” she asked while looking around.

Every face she looked at was familiar to her. They to her as well as they greeted by bowing, nodding or waving upon making eye contact.

“Let me explain”, the Hero declared. “I brought all your friends back from the dead.”

“What?” she asked, still in disbelief.

“Well, you know how you said about me killing your friends? I mean, I couldn’t help it at the time because it’s war, of course, but I did feel bad about it so I brought them back from the underworld.”

“H-how were you able to accomplish that? The Goddess of the Underworld has an impossibly tight grasp on the dead.”

“I could tell you, but it’s a bit of a long story so we have to wait for the next chapter.”

“Don’t give me that! I neither have the time nor the patience for your long-winded tales! Explain it to me summarily!”

“I beat the Goddess of the Underworld in a drinking game. Surprisingly, she was a lightweight. The toughest part was actually convincing these guys to come with me. I also don’t recall every face I had fought, so I brought everyone who had died in the past year back with me.”

“A lightweight, you say…” the Demon Queen said while chuckling nervously. She paused for a moment trying to take it all in. Then, she asked the Hero, “Why?”

“Because I want to take you out on a date, that’s why”, he answered.

Of course, the two were within earshot of the crowd and were able to listen in on their conversation. Before the Demon Queen could react to the Hero’s reply, she was flooded with questions about their relationship.

The Demon Queen was constantly denying that she and the Hero were dating, until someone asked, “When’s the wedding?”

The asker was a feeble old man whose skin was wrinkly as a prune. His hunched back caused everyone to look below their collective eye levels. However, once he spoke, everybody was silent.

“G-grandfather!” the Demon Queen exclaimed looking flustered as she approached the old timer. She then looked at the Hero and asked, “Why are you here as well?”

“It is my wish to see my granddaughter down the aisle before I die”, the old man explained.

“But, grandfather… you already died.”

“Exactly! That’s why I want it to happen before death takes me a second time!” He then pointed to the Hero and continued, “This young man, I like him. He listens to my stories.”

That last part caused the Demon Queen to raise her eyebrows. She turned to the Hero and asked, “W-what kind of stories?”

“Lots!” he enthusiastically replied. “Mostly stories about you as a child. Cute stories, embarrassing events like you wet-”

He was unable to finish his sentence as the Demon Queen, red-faced, shut him up by sending him flying with a wind spell.