Border of the Kingdom of Valefor- Valefor

Upon a grassland arrived a carriage.

When I arrived at the border, I stepped out of the carriage that had brought me thus far.

Exiting the carriage, I stood stepped onto the soft grass underneath me that was fluttering from the gentle pushes of the wind. With my hands resting on the hilt of my sword, I stared out into the vast expands before me.

With numerous large patches of clouds high above us, a stunning sea of flowers and tall grass, with hills far off in the distance, and drifting flower petals within the wind, the scene could not be any more beautiful than if it was painted upon a canvas.

The plain expanded as far as the eyes can see, and without a single obstacle, the wind’s gentle breeze swept through. It was an untouched piece of nature that had existed far before my father’s rule. Besides the few animals gazing off in the distance, there was few live that existed in this peaceful little world.

For a moment, I felt envious of the butterflies that resides within this patch of land. How they could fly so freely, without a single worry of what would become of them.

This is one of the few places that I treasure. A certain beautiful flower existed within this plain that my mother once adored. A certain wild flower that could not be cultivated.

“My lord, it is still far from the first human settlement,” one of my servants interrupted, “please allow us to escort you there.”

“No, this is far more than enough,” I said, looking back at the castle off in the distance, “there would be no point in trying to hide myself if all I am going to do is parade into the human continent with a group of demons. Besides, I wish to remain here for a moment.”

“… But master…”

They look distressed upon hearing my response.

“You do not have to worry, I will not be in any danger,” I told him, “I can walk there myself.”

“Understood, master.”

“Please bear in mind that the first human settlement is directly across the forest towards the east, if you simply head straight, you will arrive within a few hours.”

I simply nodded and began my journey.

As I walked off into the distance, I could hear the demons behind me speak.

“Do you think our lord will be alright?”

“Our lord is a natural magnet for trouble,” another whispered in response, “it would not be a surprise if he stumbled upon a dragon’s cave in search of water.”

“I heard that our lord was lost for ten days within the castle when he tried to find the kitchen for the dark priestess Gwendolyn.”

“Let us pray to the Goddess of Darkness that our lord returns in one piece,” another muttered.

How dare they belittle me, I thought, grinding my fingers in rage.

Even though I wanted to head back and kill them to exchange for some gold at the first human settlement, I decided against the better of my judgment.

*****

When I arrived at the forest, I found that my body was far more tired that I had expected.

Even though I have only been walking for a few days without rest, I did not expect that my body would give out so soon.

Gripping my hand, I wondered, have I lost my touch?

As I wondered through the woods, I began munching on the jerkies that I had brought along.

I remembered asking the chefs to prepare it. Even though it was supposed to be a famous adventurer type of food that is meant to last a long time in any temperature, the chefs almost cried. They were heartbroken through the entire process, but they did not disobey me.

I thought it would be rather plain, but with all of their effort, they made it taste rather wonderfully.

I will have to commend their effort once I return.

Just as I was about to take another piece of jerky out of the bag that had been prepared for me, I noticed, off in the corner of my eyes, a group of cloaked figures.

There were three of them, two on the ground with one crouching on a tree branch high above.

It seemed that they had spotted me too.

I raised my hand and waved at them.

Instead of the response I expected, they turned to look at each other before darting off.  

Where were they going? I wondered, picking up my pace in order to catch up to them.

When they turned around to look at me, they were startled by the fact that I was coming closer and began running faster.

Before long, I began to chase after them, screaming, “please wait for me, I only want to talk!”

The truth was that I had lost my map in a rather… humiliating accident possibly involving an open flame, a log, and a misplacement.

Because of that, I had no idea where the human town was. So, I figured if I follow them, I would be able to be led back to the settlement. Once there, I can explain my situation.

Thankfully, I had met them with my appearance having been already altered to that of a human’s form. Since the demon blood that flows through my vein is a special incubus type blood, I had little to change. With my wings, horns, and tail gone, and my eyes expanded to be circular, rather than slit, I was practically a human in appearance.

As I continued following them, I noticed that the forest was opening up.

Without any time to think, I darted through the clearing after them.

Passing through the tree line, I immediately regretted my decision.

In front of me stood an entire army.

Now, after staring blankly at the army, did I realized how foolish I had been.

The three that I thought were hunters were undoubtedly scouts, and upon contact with me, they began to flee.

When I began following them, they must have signaled for the army to prepare for a fight.

With the people in front of me on high alert, and weapons drawn, it would be practically impossible to escape unharmed.

From the amount of tents, campfires, and wagons of supplies, I had to guess that there were at least fifty thousand soldiers present.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I dropped my sword and raised my hands in the air, “I come in peace!”

The knights who drew their weapons glanced at each other awkwardly before lowering their weapons.

The entire camp stationed closest to the tree line became silent as a graveyard. 

Since they lowered their weapons, I felt some weights coming off my shoulders. For a second, I thought I would have to fight the very people I intend to join in the first place.

I looked around the camp with my arms still in the air.

There were tents as far as the eyes can see and from the looks of it, this was nothing less than an army worth of men.

Along with the knights, magicians, and archers, were magical beings belonging to the faction of light.

Thankfully my instinct kicked in and I surrendered without a fight. This amount of enemies would definitely be a needless struggle. If I am unlucky, I may perhaps lose my life. The tragedy of having a story come to an end before it even starts is one that was no laughing matter.

After a while, a group of knights appeared.

They were clad in armor far more extravagant and defensive than the standard armor that the normal knights and foot soldiers used.

What was far stranger was that this group of extravagant knights were all female, from the bulge in their armor. It was not that I was staring, but it simply caught my attention.

Still, from the slight hue that the armor emits, they were enchanted with magic.

Even the weapons that they carried on their waist emitted a similar light hue through the sheathe.

“Hello there!” I said with the most innocent of voice that I could muster.

The leader of the group continued to walk towards me while the other in her group spread out to form an encirclement.

‘Did… I say something wrong?’ I thought, looking around worriedly.

My hand slowly descended down towards my sword. My hand immediately stopped.

‘There was no need for it,’ I tried to persuade myself consciously over and over again.

If I show no sign of resistance, surely they won’t kill me straight off the bat, will they?

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She immediately drew her sword and swung it towards me.

I bit my lips and closed my eyes.

 ‘Please don’t stab me, please don’t stab me, please don’t stab me!’ The thought repeated itself like some sort of forbidden spell, taking up my mind completely.

Goddess of Darkness, I have done nothing wrong! I have fed your messenger, housed her, let her do as she pleases, so let me live!

After a moment of silence, I peeked to see that I was still alive.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself staring at the blade that hoovered a mere centimeter from my neck.

The sword was a beauty, like its owner, the wielder of a fiery pair of hazel eyes. The translucent blade was made purely of magic crystal.

After a moment of silence, where my heartbeat was beating so quick that I had feared that it would shoot from my chest and disappear into the sky, the woman drew back her sword and sheathed it.

“What is your name,” the woman spoke afterward.

Her voice carried a strong sense of dominance that made me shudder in fear. Swallowing such fear, I replied to the best of my ability, “my name is Mikhail.”

“Tell me, Mikhail, why are you within these woods,” she responded swiftly without allowing me a second to think.

I did not think that I needed to explain myself this early. Originally, I planned to create a backstory before I get to the settlement, but I was too busy immersed in the new environment to have composed a backstory for myself! Why did I procrastinate!

Then, the idea struck me.

“I belong to the fourth division of the Kelia army that was tasked with the challenge of slaying the seventy-second demon lord, Valefor. Our symbol is a radiant spear between two pigeons,” I informed, remembering the flag of the treacherous army that had marched against me.

What remains of them is something I would rather not talk about, but now they finally had a use.

“…” Her silent gaze was like daggers to me. It neither confirms or denies the situation, and with every seconds that pass, the tension continues to grow.

I began sweating bullets as our eyes locked for what felt my eternity.

“My lady, he speaks of the truth,” one of her guards muttered.

“It is common knowledge that the Kelia’s army fought against the 72nd Demon Lord, that alone will not buy our trust,” she responded nonchalantly, “Besides, it is said that their entire army was wiped out. Why are you still alive?”

“Our army consisted of one hundred thousand knights, magicians, archers, foot soldiers, familiars, and siege works.” I suggested, “while the demon lord was able to wipe out our army, and disorientate us, a few of us were able to escape due to the sacrifice of others.”

When I looked at her, I found that her was less and less pleased about me.

What did I do wrong! This person, does she not have a heart?!

Am I dealing with a demon here? I am dealing with a demon aren’t I?! Why is she more of a stereotypical demon than me?!

“So you fled during the battle,” her eyes grew colder by the seconds.

“My lady, I was ordered to. If not for my commander’s order, I would have fought side by side with my comrades to the end!” Once more, I forged a story from what time I had, “It is with heavy heart that I had to leave them.”

Her frown grew more apparent, as if she could not believe my story, “why would your commander order you to run away?”

“He told me that I must live in order to inform my kingdom of what we saw that day… the nightmare that occurred on the battlefield, as well as the information we have gathered on the demon lord and his vassals.”

“Is that so?”

“Furthermore, if we all died in battle, no one would know of our sacrifice and no one would know that we were deceived. In order to avoid the demonic hunters that came after those who fled the battle, I hid myself and laid low for a week. It was only due to these wood that I have been lost for so long.”

She seemed displeased and with a dangerous tone, she ordered, “very well… tell what you found.”

While I felt that the crowd was buying my story, the woman in front of me, the deciding factor, was obviously displeased with me.

I swear, I must have done something to her in my past life to have gain such enmity.

Was it because she was not pleased to know that the previous army was wiped out, or was she displeased that I was lying to her? Did she catch on? No… that’s impossible…

“It was a trap my lady,” I pleaded to the best of my ability, forcing myself to shed tears of sorrow, “we were deceived by the information that we received.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” One of her knights couldn’t help but ask, startled by my sudden cry.

“The Demon Lord Valefor, he was not the weakest amongst the seventy-two demon lords, but rather he still remains as the 6th demon lord.”

“How can that be…” the crowd began whispering amongst each other.

“We were shocked ourselves,” I responded swiftly, “on the day that we marched to the castle, we found ourselves facing an army twice our size. Their demon lord was able to single handedly slaughter our strongest, and we were butchered like swine in a slaughterhouse.”

“… It was strange that their ranks were reorganized recently,” the female general muttered, “but the rumors were that the one who inherited the demon lord spot was a half-breed and the youngest amongst them.”

“My lord, it was a complete hoax,” I answered, shaking my head in rejection to her statement, “we had received that information to. Because we believed that the demon lord was still new, our kingdom decided to attack him before he becomes stronger. But, what awaited us was a blood thirsty monster that had the ability to slaughter our entire army. It was only upon engaging him in battle did we realize that we were deceived. After much consideration, the entire situation revolving around the demon lord, Valefor, did not make sense. Demon lords are revered by the demon race. There would never be a case where one of their own kind would do something as mingle their blood, much less marry a lesser being and produce an heir of mix blood with a human. It was an unspoken taboo, and their pride knows no bound. The rumors were merely spread in order to keep their secrets from being revealed! The truth is that they knew that we would attack their weakest demon lord, and with every demon lords being irreplaceable, they made to make sure that none of them died. To accomplish that, they had moved one of their higher ranked demon lords to their lowest rank in order. In our foolishness, we had only expected for a battle against a weaker opponent, but we were lured in and defeated. The Demon Lord Valefor had crushed our army, slaughtering every single one of my companions without mercy in order to prevent the information from spreading. We were nothing more than moths attracted to the flame.”

“I see…” the leader in front of me finally spoke, “is that all you know?”

“In order to protest their weakest, they replaced the weakest demon lord with the strongest. But, their pride is their greatest weakness. Even though they wish to protect each other, they still view each other in ranks of strength. In their hierarchy, the weakest amongst them would still be the previous 72nd Demon Lord Andromalius. Rather than attacking Demon Lord Valefor, it would be wise to attack Demon Lord Andromalius.”

Like hell do I want you to attack my home, I thought, directing them to attack my enemy.  

After a while, she asked, “why are you telling us all of this? What do you gain from this?”

“The demons are the enemies of our race. To hold information on such matter would be the most regrettable decision of my life. If you all manage to slay a demon lord, it would not only be a great victory to your kingdom, but be a great victory for all of mankind.”

“Very well, thank you for your information.” The leader said, “as reward, we will shelter and provide you with enough supply to return to your kingdom.”

“Thank you.”

“Before then, come along with me,” the leader ordered.