The soldier stared at the decapitated corpse of the mini-demon and wondered how it'd gotten there. Why was there a demon anywhere near the castle?

On second thought, he realized that perhaps demons were more common than he had originally thought. He took this to be extremely good news - he had no idea how long it was going to be before whatever Galbaer was doing got him back in Hell, and he could use the stress relief. He still wanted to find out how powerful Envy was, and also what the color of his/her/its insides were. He knew that there were nine of the really dangerous ones, the ones he was most assuredly going to use the BFG for, but all things considered, he'd settle for just straight-up committing genocide against all of demonkind. Even his Perks agreed that this was a good idea.

Dusting his hands off with a grunt of satisfaction, the soldier decided to head back down to the ballroom. Ambling over to the mangled hole he'd caused when he jumped through the ceiling to access the roof, he easily hopped back through. Adjusting his trajectory so as to miss the milling people covered in far too much clothing, the soldier neatly slammed into the ground and righted himself.

More than a few glares were sent his way, most of them aborting before he even lifted his head. His unintentional demonstration of what exactly he was capable of had evidently scared off more than a few of the nobles, which meant he was probably going to have a harder time finding someone to send him to Hell.

Why was it so hard to get someone to get him to Hell!?

Still in her dress, Aliss approached him and stared at his hands for a moment. "Huh. I was going to ask why you jumped through the ceiling, but I get the feeling there was a demon up there."

The soldier simply nodded and continued moving through the crowd, looking for Daisy. He found the Lepori a few moments later being smothered in headpats and absent rubs by a group of lace-enveloped ladies. She looked incredibly uncomfortable, but at the same time didn't seem to completely hate it, either. The soldier filed that particular piece of information away and simply gave her a thumbs up. She looked horrorstruck as she saw him, but the soldier had already turned away at that point.

He discovered Galbaer sitting in a corner of the enormous room, excitedly telling stories of his adventures to a small mob of fancily dressed children, their parents resting nearby and chatting quietly. Galbaer used a lot of wild gestures and sudden increases in volume to get his story across, and seemed remarkably enthusiastic to tell the kids about the tales he told.

The soldier nodded to himself, then quietly exited. Most people would have assumed that it was difficult for a man like him, wearing full armor and covered in blood, to make an unnoticed exit. Most people would have been wrong.

Once outside, the soldier walked down the opulent stairs, hooked a left past the gold-trimmed carriages and disturbed footmen. Making his way past all of the wealth that he didn't care for, he ended up in a large barn.

There weren't any stalls in the barn. Instead, a veritable playground of tough seesaws, tunnels, and ledges awaited him. In the very back of the barn huddled a wide variety of dogs in all breeds and sized, shivering in terror. In front of them, Eld and Isabelle (Perhaps... Isabeld?) happily romped all over the equipment, effectively stomping it into the ground. It might have been built to last, but it wasn't built to last against half-ton mountains of armor-plated Orthrus. The armor was especially concentrated around her shoulders and upper back, and it emphasized the already heavy blows she was dealing with her front paws.

The moment the soldier entered, Isabeld (it was easier to think of her - them? - as one entity at this point) spun around, strands of drool hanging from her jowls, and happily hurled herself at the soldier in a barrage of two-headed licks and rubs. The soldier grinned, rubbing Isabelle's head and scratching Eld's. Both heads leaned into him, panting loudly. Leaning down into the carnage, the soldier grabbed what might have at one point been a ball and tossed it into the corner. The Orthrus scrabbled towards it, jaws snapping in an attempt to seize the deflated object.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"They're pretty cute."

The soldier turned around to find Galbaer watching him, leaning against the side of the barn with a smile. He raised his hands defensively, adding, "Not here to bother you, just checking up on you. Why'd you jump through the ceiling?"

Raising his clenched fist, the soldier indicated the fresh blood dripping from it, and Galbaer nodded understandingly. "An assassin. I should've guessed. Do you think it was for you, or for me?"

If he was honest, the soldier had no idea, but it would make sense for the demons to try and get rid of him. Of course, humans had been proven to cooperate with demons, so it was possible that the smaller demon had been there to take out Galbaer or perhaps someone even more important.

Eyes narrowing slightly, Galbaer said, "Y'know, the king wanted to meet you."

The soldier shrugged, and Isabeld crashed into his side, pushing him away. A mangled scrap of material was dropped into the soldier's hand, and he tossed it over their heads once again. The Orthrus hurled themselves into the air, paws splaying out, and Eld neatly grabbed the former ball. The Orthrus crashed into the ground, and both heads began fighting each other in an attempt to keep the ball.

Curious, Galbaer asked, "So you're not interested in meeting the king? He's not an unimportant person, as I'm sure you know."

Nodding, the soldier began giving Isabeld a vigorous belly rub, and the Orthrus instantly forgot the ball, stretching out and raising their forepaws to let him scratch just behind the armor. It was probably difficult to get comfortable, even thought the armor looked as though it were growing directly out of their skin. A pair of lines, chinks in the otherwise smooth surface, ran up and around their shoulders. The soldier wondered what it was, and whether it was natural or not.

Coughing politely, Galbaer commented in a serious tone, "So... I'm sure she hasn't told you yet, but Aliss won't be joining you when you go back to Hell. There are simply too many things here that she needs to attend to. Besides, now that she's such a high-level Paladin, I've got to start training her for the Guard. Hopefully she'll be better than some of the noble rubbish in the ranks at the moment." He caught the soldier's expression, despite the fact that he couldn't even see the soldier's face, and sighed. "I know some of them are corrupt, Doom. I just can't get rid of them."

The soldier couldn't exactly relate. His allies up to this point had consisted of a now-deceased program of some kind, a knight who apparently wasn't a knight, a very small rabbit-person, and a two-headed dog. Sure, they were mismatched, but at least they were loyal. Besides, they fought pretty well.

Pausing in the scratches, the soldier made his way over to Galbaer. Without the attention, Isabeld rolled to their feet and started sniffing the terrified kennel dogs.

Galbaer yawned loudly, staring up at the night sky. "I heard you spent most of your time in Hell. Have you taken a minute to just... I dunno, stop and smell the roses?"

The soldier was nose-dead, but he understood the metaphor. Looking up, he found a rolling carpet of glittering stars, pinpricks of sparkling violet and blue spreading across the sky in an unequaled view. The near-absolute blackness of the sky was interrupted exclusively by the two massive moons hanging on the horizon, shining gently down on the kingdom below.

He wondered if there were demons on those moons.

Galbaer frowned, and the soldier looked at him inquisitively. The Champion glanced over and chuckled. "I forgot to mention. I've got you a ride to Hell. The guy's available tomorrow morning."

The soldier's mood instantly improved, and he relaxed considerably. Based on how everyone had been acting, he wasn't sure that it was even possible to get him back to Hell, and he was looking forward to finally executing Envy like he'd meant to... what, a day ago? Two days? Time had been moving fast ever since he'd been shunted into this universe, and it was a little hard to keep track of it all.

Galbaer snorted loudly, and the soldier returned his attention to the large man. With a ready grin, Galbaer told him, "Well, if you think about it, there are a whole lot of nobles in there that want you to go to hell anyway. It was just a matter of finding one that was willing to pay for the trip."

It took the soldier a moment to get the joke, but once he did, even he released the faintest of amused chuckles. The wood under his feet ignited instantly, and burned itself out before either of them even noticed.