“I’m a daemon queen?”

“Yes.” Knowledge replied.

“You’re sure?”

“Of course.”

“Shouldn’t there be quite a few people ahead of me in that particular race? I’ve only been a daemon for a little more than two years.”

“Cece, what kind of people do you think typically form a pact with me.”

“Mages.” She said the pieces clicking in her head. Magic didn’t have to be a scholarly pursuit, but it generally was, and they had the most to gain from the enhanced mental strength that Knowledge could offer.

“Precisely! Mages who are preoccupied with your world’s power. I have a large amount of supplicants, slightly more than any other devil, but they are not interested in more than a boon here or there. They seek only to augment their magical might with my information. There are few like you, who know the worth of my avenue of power.”

“I see, so I just didn’t have a lot of competition.”

“Perhaps, but it is still quite the accomplishment, few daemons have ever brought me any divine essence.”

“Well, I suppose I’m glad I could be of use, what does this mean for me though?”

“Would you like the good news or bad news first, Cece?”

“Bad.”

“Are you familiar with daemon society?”

“A touch.” She replied. It was even more cutthroat than mage society. At least a mage could trust most of their family members, well some of the time that is. Daemons were individuals first and foremost.

“Then you are aware that this paints a bit of a target on your back, yes?”

“Yes, I suppose I’ll avoid Ustrilla for now.” Ustrilla was a colossal island country ruled by a daemon king. It was the only place where being a daemon wasn’t a crime.

“Oh no, that would be one of the safer places for you to be. It’s the only country where it wouldn’t be legal to kill you. You would likely be welcomed with open arms. I would have recommended you relocate there long ago if you didn’t have unfinished business in Astraev.”

“Wouldn’t there also be an abundance of daemons there that would want to kill me?” She said, ignoring the serpent’s last comment.

“Not any more than there are in Astraev, although I doubt it will be too much of a problem for you. For the same reason there is not much competition there is also not much desire for your position.”

“Alright then, what is the good news.”

A card fell from the space in front of Cece, the only thing that allowed her to catch it was her enhanced mind.

“You’re tending to your boons well.” The serpent commented

Cece looked at the card, it was black with a faint iridescence and it was lettered with a variety of letters and pictograms that constantly shifted. Cece could barely make sense of it before Knowledge spoke again.

“This card will allow you access to my library.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“How do I use it?”

“Simply touch it to your forehead, or if you prefer you can visit it while you sleep by putting it under your pillow.”

“How convenient.”

“It is.”

“I was expecting when you said a privilege that it would be something like a special boon.”

“It can’t be a boon, boons can’t be taken away. They are apart of your very flesh the moment you purchase them.”

“That’s comforting.” She had always worried if her boons were truly hers or if they were borrowed, but had never asked since doing so would be suspicious.

“Really? Most disagree.” Knowledge replied, sounding amused.

“Most are victims of human sentimentality, I know the value of power.”

“That you do.” Knowledge hissed in agreement.

“Does being a daemon queen mean I have any duties or such?”

“No. The position is a gift not a burden, you are free to do as you please.”

“Thank you, I will, your unholiness.” She said hiding a small smile at the joke. Knowledge hissed a slight laugh.

“Stay safe, Cece.”

Cece woke on the ground of her atelier and winced at the stinging in her eye before removing her sense of pain. She spent the rest of the day trying to relax and process the events of the last few days. She took another long bath and managed to finish her books on gunsmithing and engineering, ate a good meal, and ended the day by sliding the strange black metallic card underneath her pillow. When she finally fell asleep she found herself in a place that seemed strangely familiar. It was quite dark, and there was water reaching her ankles, but instead of the wide expanse and the obelisk she was expecting she found shelves and shelves of books going on forever. It reminded her of her own memory.

“Am I in knowledge’s mind?” She asked herself aloud. “I suppose that means you can see me here.” This time it was addressed to someone else. Suddenly a book fell from one of the shelves. She just barely managed to catch it before it sunk into the water. It was a book on the ceramics of a dead island nation she had never heard of, but when she turned to the first page, the first word made her pause.

“Perhaps.”

“I see. Well thank you for letting me access this place.” She said. She loved to tease, but sometimes politeness really was the way to go. Especially when you were in the head of a giant snake devil. She wandered the shelves around her, appearing to be in a section dedicated to the arts. She had to walk through the watery passages for a long time before she found what she was looking for, the alchemy section. She approached it with the grace and intensity of a predator, and she wasted no time actually understanding any of it. What she did couldn’t be called reading, she flipped through each page and relied on her eidetic memory to capture the contents for future use. This privilege could be taken from her, but knowledge could not be. She had memorized the contents of a few rows by the time she woke. She stretched her body out and smiled despite the strain on her mind, it could handle it.

She did her usual routine of getting ready for the day, while absentmindedly reading one of the texts in her own head. It was one of the texts that Knowledge had drawn from when he gave her the refining techniques, a treatise on mimicking silver magics with alchemy. Most of them were already known, but a few things the author said hinted at information that wasn’t. She kept reading and was delighted to learn a few inscriptions that weren’t known to her. They weren’t revolutionary, but alchemetrixes had been looking for ways to fake the sense of touch for a long time. It was midday however when her reading was interrupted by a knock at the door. Cece frowned, she wasn’t expecting any visitors, and her next appointment with Sigmund was in a week. She instantly pulled out a salt scroll and murmured the activation code, before walking to the door and peering through the peephole.

Standing outside was a man with dark skin, dressed all in black, with a slight grin on his face. He had his hair in several braids with small beads at the end of them in the shape of skulls. He was quite short and appeared to have a bit of kohl around his eyes. Altogether he had a very striking appearance. Cece pulled out her gun and opened the door, keeping her hand behind her.

“Hello, can I help you?” Cece asked innocently.

“Yes, are you Cecilia Silva?”

“Yes, and you are?”

“My name is Eibon, I’m your predecessor.” He said simply. Cece immediately understood what he meant and pulled her hand out from behind her, shooting him in the chest. She didn’t have to care about the noise thanks to the sound suppression inscriptions she installed into her apartment, but that was the least of her worries. For some strange reason the man was still standing, and simply looked a bit bothered. “I’m not here to fight, Cecelia.” Cece kept her gun up and backed away slightly.

“Then why are you here.”

“At first I wanted to see who replaced me, I’ve been Knowledge’s king for some years now, but then I learned you were an alchemetrix.”

“And why is that of interest to you?” She asked, smiling despite the steel in her voice.

“I want you to make a focus for me, now aren’t you going to invite me in?” He asked his grin intensifying despite the bullet hole going through his heart.