I don’t think I’m capable of being stunned again.

This palace is just…too much. If it was built with the intentions to shock and awe it’s guests, then consider me properly shocked and awed.

For one, the palace is gargantuan. It’s at least as big as two or three of the biggest manors combined, and certainly many times more extravagant. I kinda wanted to run off from this little group, and see what there would be to explore in the seemingly infinite nooks and crannies available here.

Of course, I didn’t do this. That would simply be asking for trouble, no?

The guards here were equally scary. I can’t even tell what metal was used to create their armor and weapons. It had a sort of golden shiny quality though, and had obviously been created for each individual guard, since I saw so many nuances in the armor to accommodate things like beastmen ears, tails, and even antlers. Also, while I couldn’t tell what sort of power level these guys were at, I did get the heavy feeling that pissing them off would be unwise.

As we ventured further into the palace, the guards that had been escorting Anhara peeled off towards another direction. Likely, their protection isn’t needed within these walls, especially with so much aggregate power gathered in one place. And, I couldn’t help but to notice that this entire building is heavily fortified. It’s more like a really fancy and functional castle, rather than a palace.

And as we walked further, I noticed that paintings began appearing on the walls, and statues adorned archways set into the sides of the hallway. Particularly, I noticed that many of the statues depicted one person—A woman with long ears sticking above her head, and a beautiful face. Whoever had carved the statues and busts had done an upstanding job, and stuck true to the original. Most of them were the spitting image of Anhara.

Because of this, and everything else I’ve seen, and all the hints I’ve gotten thus far, I’ve given up on the thought process that Anhara might only be lower nobility or something.

To paraphrase the conclusions I’d come to—she’s got a really high status. Up in the damn clouds high.

So why was she in that forest, protected by only four guards? That seems a little reckless for someone of supposedly high standing, like Anhara. And then taking home someone who you just found in said forest, without even knowing them? That’s practically begging for an assassination attempt to happen, or at least a kidnapping.

Oh well.

It is her life, after all.

Eventually, we reached a set of double doors, indicative of a throne room. Those places always have the biggest and heaviest doors, and it doesn’t get much heavier or bigger than engraved metal doors topping out at over five meters tall. Holy cow, are those things imposing as all hell. And, I’d bet that there are several powerful enchantments and wards placed inside these doors, and in the room itself.

The doors were closed, though, so I couldn’t verify that for myself.

Actually, as soon as we had come within sight of the doors, a well-dressed man standing before them ran off, into a fancier looking section of hallways. He had taken one look at Anhara, and bolted. I wonder what that had been about?

Anyway, Anhara didn’t look at all perturbed by the man’s reaction, and even seemed to expect it. She stopped in front of the big double doors, and waited. I stood besides her, not knowing what was going on for the most part.

It was especially bad since I couldn’t talk to Anhara. Even if I had somehow learned the language, I likely wouldn’t be able to converse with her. Maybe she’s physically incapable or something?

We ended up waiting a solid fifteen minutes with an awkward silence, before something changed.

From down the hallway in which that man had run down, someone else came walking towards us.

However, the appearance of this woman was shocking, to say the least.

She was beautiful, and had tall ears standing straight above her head, along with numerous tails fanning out behind her. The tails, along with her hair, and ears, were a stark white, not unlike the color of my own hair. Her eyes were an icy blue that would give most people a feeling of coldness, and distance, but were filled by warmth at the moment.

And, she looked almost exactly like Anhara. Are they twins or something?

The only real differences between them exists in the number of tails, and the color of their eyes. While this woman’s are blue, Anhara’s eyes are a yellowish golden color.

The woman walked towards us calmly, her very bearing exuding regality and power.

Once she reached us, she spoke a few clipped words to Anhara, and pushed open the large doors, revealing the room beyond them.

Anhara immediately followed her, and I trailed close behind.

Apparently, the room wasn’t a throne room like I had been expecting. 

Nope, just an office. An absolutely massive office, with floor to ceiling bookshelves and chairs scattered about, along with a large desk in the center of the place, covered in papers and thick books. The woman led us to a particular spot, where a few chairs formed a semi-circle. She was speaking the whole time, focusing on Anhara. The tone of her voice sounded angry, but I was unable to understand what was being said, of course.

She sat down, while handing Anhara a square panel, covered in a black material, along with some chalk. Anhara sat across from her, the square in her lap. Not knowing what to do, I sat in an empty chair off to the side.

I sighed internally. I really feel out of place here, especially since I still have no clear idea of what’s going on, or why Anhara brought me with her.

There was a moment of silence, while the woman seemingly collected her thoughts. I was spacing out when she turned to me, and spoke in a questioning tone. I shrug my shoulders, while raising my hands to indicate confusion.

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea how to speak or understand your language.”

I apologize for this, hoping that the woman understands the apologetic tone in my voice.

She looks surprised and somewhat puzzled upon hearing me speak in an entirely different language.

She turns to Anhara, and asks her the question instead of me.

Anhara took hold of that black square, and the chalk, and wrote down an answer.

So, I guess she can’t talk, but can communicate? There’s a tragic backstory there, I just know it.

Anyway, the woman took a look at the answer, and read it carefully. Once she was done, she glanced up at me, with well-hidden emotion in the depths of her eyes. She again turned to Anhara, and continued asking questions, the answers to which she dutifully wrote on the small blackboard.

Ugh, I really hate not knowing what the people around me are saying.

I’ve actually been in this situation a few times, right after being born. Different worlds will speak different languages, and since I’ve never yet been born in a world I’d already inhabited, it should be taken for granted that I would have to learn the local languages from said birth. I’ve never experienced any of that storybook bullshit where the main character just instinctively understands the locals from another world from the get-go. I’ve had to learn it all myself, no cheats.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Because of all this, I know something like two dozen different languages now, most of them useless, since they’re only used in their own worlds. 

On the plus side though, I’ve gotten really good at understanding languages from scratch due to all that practice.

If I had stayed in the company of Anhara’s guards for a few weeks, I would have been able to get a conversational grasp of the language here. Unfortunately, it’s not even been a full day since I had met Anhara and gotten out of the forest—Not nearly enough time to began understanding the language.

Compound that onto the fact that they never really spoke to me, and I’ve only really heard this new language be spoken on a handful of occasions.

My attention was brought back to the woman and Anhara, when I heard my name.

“Kai? #$^$%&   @#%^   #$&&^* . !@$#  @^$^& $# Joan.”

Ah, she pointed to herself with that last word, and clearly emphasized it. Joan must be her name.

She said some other things, the meaning of which passed clear over my head. She must have understood that I didn’t understand anything other than the name, and cursed softly.

I jolted upright, staring at the woman, Joan, with surprise.

She caught my look, and seeing my reaction, seemed a little shocked.

You see, she had softly murmured a string of extremely creative dirty words, the type which would set the ears of normal people aflame. However, Anhara seemed to not notice, nor care. That was because she wouldn’t have understood the words that Joan had spoken.

I understood them though. 

They were in English.

“You—do you understand this language?” She asked, some level of curiosity buried under her voice.

“Yeah, I do. Are you from Earth or something?”

Joan nodded, and I chuckled a little to myself.

Finally, someone to talk to in this place. Maybe now I could find out a little more about where I am, and what’s going on.

“This will certainly make things a little easier.” Joan said, “You see, I have some questions regarding your origins, and how you got into the royal woods without anyone noticing.”

“Ah, okay then. I’ll answer as much as I’m able to.”

“Simply judging by the fact that you can speak English, and the fact that nobody from Earth naturally has such horns, or pigmentation, can I suppose that you are a reincarnation who kept all it’s memories?”

“Yes, you can. Would I be right in assuming the same about you?”

Joan nodded.

“You would be. Ah, wait. My daughter looks confused. Give me a moment to translate for her.”

Holy hells, Anhara is her daughter? How old is Joan? She doesn’t look a day over twenty, and Anhara looks at least seventeen. I mean, I know that the more powerful you are, the less you tend to age, but this is just ridiculous. It would imply that she became very powerful at a fairly young age, and kept her youthful appearance because of it.

Then, all those sculptures and busts in this place are of her, and not Anhara? It would make more sense, though now I wonder what sort of position Joan occupies, what sort of status she holds.

Luckily, due to the fact that we share a language in common, I can directly ask her, instead of using context clues to suss out an answer after much effort and pantomiming.

“Now, I would like to know how you found your way inside the royal hunting grounds. Normally, the only way in or out would be through the gate, and nobody should have been let inside.”

I scratched my cheek, not knowing how to phrase my answer.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure. I know I was attacked with some sort of teleportation device, and ended up there. As far as how the device worked, or how it chose it’s destination, I have no idea. The only thing I am absolutely sure of, is that I nearly starved to death in those damn woods.”

I looked at Joan accusingly. If she were so concerned with people getting into the hunting grounds, as she calls them, then why isn’t there an alarm to tell of when someone is inside of it? After all, it would be fairly easy to set up a magical means of doing so.

“I personally apologize for the pain you underwent. It wasn’t anyone’s intention to let you starve, but we had no way of knowing that you were inside the hunting grounds. The space-time magics within prevent any sort of enchantments or spells from lasting very long.”

“Space-time magic?”

“I’m sure that you noticed how each of the trees seem fairly young, and that the inside of the forest is significantly larger than the outer perimeter? This is due to a divine enchantment placed into the very earth at that spot, which halts the advance of time among the natural things in the forest, and repairs any damage dealt to it by reversing said time. It has the added effect of creating a series of small folds in space, making the area of the hunting ground inhabit several planes of existence at once.” 

...

“……Isn’t that a little overkill, for just a hunting grounds?”

“The man who placed the enchantment did it for fun, and it only took him ten seconds.”

“Oh.”

“Moving on, do you know what manner of being you are? What sort of blood flows in your veins?”

Ah, she isn’t dwelling on the hunting grounds. That place breaks common sense in a few different ways, doesn’t it?

Well, I think it’s safe to tell Joan what I am, if she’s a reincarnate from Earth. People from there tend to be fairly progressive, and uncaring as to the issues between races. Well, at least, the ones not mired in prejudice are.

“Well, I am a demon. More specifically, I am a Demon Lord.”

There was no gasp of horror, nor any sort of recognition.

Instead, some confusion, and excitement lingered within Joan’s eyes.

“Demons? I thought those were just a fable, like the banishing of the elves and such. Are you having my leg, or do they truly exist?”

“I’m standing here, am I not?”

“No, forgive me. I just never believed the stories they tell here. But faced with someone of the same race as the saviors of our world, I guess the stories have a little validity.”

Huh? Saviors? The Demons?

“There are stories where Demons are the good guys? How did that happen?”

She looked at me, again confused.

“Why wouldn’t Demons be good? As the decedents of the dragons, they were supposedly tasked with keeping order in this world. However, there’s no real proof of this, so it’s just an old legend at the moment. If it weren’t for the occasional sightings of a few different Demons, nobody would believe it anymore.”