Author Memo: Greetings! I am here with a new chapter for you all!
Everyone, if you have ideas don't be shy and tell me, I may use them in the future!
Thanks for the PRs Ultrabenosaurus! I have good time talking with you! I will be awaiting for your PR on the nexts chapters too!
Let's stop it. Here is the chapter. Have a good read!
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Y'allaer PoV
A message from Rusty snaps my mind back into gear. I don't want to know how long I was staring in fearcuriosity at the castle. Anyway, it seems there's an unknown group at the gates of the city which my Queen wishes for me to crushgreet, to find out who they are and what they want. This will be our nation's first contact with any party affiliated with neither the mercenary group nor the foolish pig's kingdom of humans, so having been assigned to make the first impression is both exciting and nerve-wracking. I need to show Lilith and our people that I am worthy of being the Mechatronics' King, despite being biological.
Wow. 'Our' people. That's going to take some getting used to.
As I finally approach the gates I leave such thoughts behind and signal the guarding Knights to open up. I come to a stop only a meter from the archway, hoping to show trust to these people and that they would do the same as a result - it's hard to forge a cooperative relationship if the first step is to show a lack of trust! Lance taught me that.
However, I struggle to keep the disdain off my face once I get a look at the group I've been sent to meet. There are only 9 people and they all look mostly human, but with clear non-human traits that set them as something else. No wonder the guards didn't recognise them, they're similar to a handful of the demon clans, but also a bit different. Though it's not like them being demons is enough to screw my face up, no, it was because one of them was a human. A proper human. She had a high mana capacity and was travelling with a group of demons so the chances of her being raised in the pig's shitty kingdom is low, but I have yet to care about changing my mindset of humans being guilty until proven innocent.
"Greetings, travellers. I welcome you to the Kingdom of the Mechatronics. I am the King, Y'allaer, and I apologise for keeping you locked out until now. My Queen decided it was best that I come to greet you personally as, besides your pet, our guards were unable to determine your exact race." Oh! That was nice! Formal wording, good sentence structure, smooth pronunciation, and the intonation of a leader! I totally aced that! But they seem confused… could it be because I'm not mechanical?
Then one of the female demons speaks up. "We apologise for coming unannounced, Your Highness, and thank you for personally greeting us with such a show of trust. My name is Jink, one of Demon Lord Hysterya's 8 Demon Generals." She then proceeded to introduce all the members of her party, including the human who for some reason also holds the title of Demon General. Seems like I messed up, after all.
"I must ask, Your Highness..." Shit. I knew it was coming but still… fuck! I just know Lilith is watching this and laughing her cute little butt off, while planning my execution for insulting such important guests. First day on the job and my head is already rolling...
Marin PoV
"... what did you mean by 'pet'? There are only the 9 of us present and we have brought no animals." Jink asks the question we were all waiting for her to ask, but obviously with someone as important as a King greeting one must give proper introductions before addressing such trivialities.
"On this topic I must first apologise to General Marin, for she is the one I was referring to." Wait what!? He thinks I'm a pet!? "You see, both this kingdom and I, personally, have a certain… prejudice, against humans for their past behaviour. As I'm sure you know, they are taught from the moment they're born to look down on all other races as inferior, as well as to kill their own children should they be found to have anything but a small mana capacity." ...what? The humans of this world kill their own children if they possess a usable amount of mana?! That's barbaric! And idiotic! No wonder there weren't any mages among the soldiers we've encountered so far!
Then he continues, and again we're all shocked by his words. "Mere days ago I had to lead a punitive force to teach our human neighbours a lesson for their treatment of us." You're telling me this guy was in charge of that?! He allowed those two children to be killed so brutally? And levelled the entire city? Just to teach the humans a lesson? No, if he was the leader then I guess it's possible he wouldn't know the actions of every soldier, so those children… But levelling the city must surely have been his idea.
"Seeing a single human surrounded by demons and with too much mana to be left alive had she grown amongst her own kin, I am ashamed to say that I presumed you their slave since birth." He finishes with a slight bow, something only possible from a King due to my status as a Demon General and the fact my Demon Lord is present. Though, now we know how humans are in this world, I have to say that his assumption makes perfect sense.
"No apology is necessary, Your Highness. As you have said, such an assumption is only to be expected given the nature of the human race." I tell him while returning the bow, almost on autopilot as my mind tries to make sense of this world's humanity and the so-called Mechatronic race's idea of teaching bullies a lesson.
"I suppose we are all just so used to her presence that we had forgotten common sense." Havok smoothly backed me up with a jovial tone and a small laugh.
"Well then, with guests such as yourselves it is not proper to stand around at the city's gates. Come, I shall show you to the palace and introduce you to my Queen." The young King doesn't seem to care much for formalities and I imagine would normally be far more casual, but he's competent enough when he needs to be. I am interested in meeting their Queen, though, seeing as this King is the only non-machine being we've been able to see so far. It also seems like she's the true ruler and this King is only an add-on… Maybe he's not so good at ruling a nation but excels at war? That's the sort of feeling I get from him, anyway.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I ask some questions about the city itself while Reter is having to control an annoying Hy-kun, which the King watches with a bemused face.
Hy-kun wanted to jump straight at it when he saw the first Mechatronic… It looked like the giant robots you see in anime but they are more human like than we would expect. He was excited because he said he wanted to pilot a robot like that… ‘Why do boys have such dreams?’
I finally decided to ask the question that I know everyone wanted to hear: he looked too young to be called an adult in our world, and even here he would be surely be too young. “I apologise, Your Highness, as I know it’s rude to ask this question to a King, but you look too young for the throne. If it's not too offensive, may I ask how old you are?” All the Generals nodded when I asked. It looked like it really was troubling them too.
He looks at us and scratches his cheek. He looked troubled to reveal it, but with a wry smile he answers. “Ah, yes. I almost never say it, but I am 14 years old. By the way, here we have some more…” He continued to explain some minor details that just Hy-kun wanted to hear. ‘He is younger than us and already has his own kingdom! But he probably isn’t the true king as we know that someone is considered an adult, in this world, at the age of 15.’
We continue to listen his speech about some differences between the Clockworks and the Constructs.
Lilith PoV
Let’s see what he is doing.
I open the video feed to see what my ‘King’ is doing. The gates were opening and he started to greet our guests. I was preparing to sit when I heard him call the human their pet, in shock my hand slipped and I fell face first. I could say 'as expected of him' but that was better, or worse, than I would have thought.
It looks like he learned how to talk a bit like a ruler, probably from observing how I act when I am before official representatives of his mercenary group. I get up off the floor and finally got to sit when the human asks him his age. ‘She had a point in asking, he is truly young to rule. I myself have just 200020 years. The old king was way older than me, I think he had been active for 1200 years when I was created… or something near it. He answers without much hesitation. I could see that they were all surprised to see such a young king. ‘You will be more amused when you get here. I can see it already.'
It didn’t take long before they had already entered the castle, so I sent a message to Y’allaer.
Y’allaer, I’m in the throne room and I prepared a ‘special’ seat for you.
Lilith… HELP ME!!! The Demon Lord won’t stop asking questions on how to create the Clockworks, and he wants to know if it is possible to use the technology to create something he calls Mechas!
I sigh to him. Our ‘King’ is really worthless as an ambassador. ‘He can be used to train our kids, though.’ Why am I thinking about that now?!
They finally get before the throne room.
“*Knock* *Knock* I’m have returned, My Queen Lilith, and I bring our guests before your presence.” Y’allaer is trying his best… I’ll probably reward him… in the future.
They all look at the room. It had been remodeled once again, now it is more spacious, and a chair was standing beside my throne. A well-made and good-looking chair, of course, but still just a chair.
“Greetings, my guests. I am the Automata Queen, Lilith Marquez Valance. I’m honored to have you as my guests this night.” I bow while sitting on my throne. Y’allaer had gone to his chair and sat quietly. “You have my deepest apologies to see the throne my King is using for now. It was just announced today that we would be marrying, so his throne isn’t yet complete.” I look at him, ‘Y’allaer is trying too much to look like a king. It’s funny.’
They all introduce themselves again.
“Demon Lord Hysterya, it looks like you have a great knowledge about units like my Knights. We could continue chatting here, but it looks as though you all are hungry and in need of a good night's rest.” Almost all of them had tired looks… Except that Havok and the Freyki guy. “We have some guest rooms that you can use. We have also prepared some food and the latest model of Gondorrer, a communications device for our biological allies, for you all. To use them you can just think of what you want while infusing some mana. It is perfectly safe, the King himself wears one all the time.” He properly notices the cue and takes his Gondo out from his right eye to show them.
They all look amused as it is so thin that it’s difficult to see.
“It looks like your personal maids and butlers have arrived. While you stay in this city they will follow you, please think of them as a person that would always appear when called for. But note that you will need the Gondo, as we call them, to communicate remotely.”
10 Constructs were awaiting them outside the throne room. Havok was the last one to get out, and he had been looking at Y’allaer with a less-than-happy face the whole time. ‘It looks like we will see a beating in the future.’ I giggle as I imagine it.
“Well then, shall we go to our room, my King?” He just nods before relaxing. I walk with him to his room as my room’s door was being repaired from earlier. I sit in his bed and point to the balcony. “Today you’re going to sleep out there. You need to reflect a little more on what you did this evening.”
He tried to make me say that he could sleep with me, but with one look he stops and goes to lie down on the balcony floor.