In the throne room, D sat talking to Laplas who stood while Genje kneeled. D had his interest in Genje’s body, and snuck peeks at her cleavage from time to time. Laplas noticed it, but said nothing. He’s like that, she understood it from the first conversation they had in the jail interrogation room. D is an absolute idiot, driven entirely by compulsion, and what’s more, he’s aware of it.

“Laplas?” said D, interrupting her disparaging thoughts.

“It’s nothing. Are you sure you’re okay? Taking a spear right through your heart…” Laplas looked away when talking as usual, studying the carpet.

“Oh! That!” D flummoxxed back into the throne, leaning lazily to the side with a leg strewn over the armrest. “Yeah, they really almost got me there. I’m beat. Absolutely nothing worked. No wonder, if those guys are the best fighters on this side of the war. Two Kings? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

D sighed. Catgirl maids were crawling all over him, fixing his bloody and torn clothing with instruments they produced from nowhere. D gave up earlier when they surged onto him en masse. D tried ordering them off of him but the tiny catgirl maids ignored him and kept up their adorable mutterings. D gave up trying to figure out how that Dragon Hoard ability worked, and then D turned to Laplas for their second in-person conversation since he met her.

Laplas adjusted her voluminous robe, shaking her volume of black hair into a ponytail with a hairpin as she voiced her concern, still avoiding D’s direct gaze.

“That’s ridiculous. And you’re a chimera too? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Didn’t you hear the rumors about the ‘dragon bo- oh wait, you don’t go outside. I forgot. Why’d you come now then?” D questioned.

“I told Genje to spy on you. I hope you don’t mind. I have a relationship with Silva, so you got lucky this time,” Laplas said.

“Then, how’d you get here so fast?” D asked.

“It’s a secret?”

D waved his hands about in protest.

“No, no, I’m your employer, you can at least tell me that much!”

“You don’t seem like the type who minds things too much. Let’s keep it that way?”

D’s eyebrow smushed together as he held his chin. There is merit to that argument. Tiny catgirl maids are crawling all over me now. Yes. I see now, he thought, but then his mind raised another protest.

“Okay, but what about Genje? How did she follow me without me knowing, and get back to you so fast?”

Laplas looked to the kneeling girl. Genje’s body is curved and firm, like a statue she remained still and her proportions seemed to achieve a golden mean. Her dense black eyes contrasted with the vigor of her white sclera, her black hair with a long drifting side ponytail complemented by an inner shine.  Laplas didn’t get a good look at Genje the night they met, but undoubtedly Laplas thought that Genje’s the best looking woman she’s seen. If you can call a Shadow Demon Lord a woman.

“She’s a shadow demon,” Laplas responded finally.

“Uh, I’ve killed a shadow demon before, that girl’s no shadow demon,” said D.

“She’s a shadow demon, they can do that. Right?” Laplas said the “Right?” with a stern voice. It contrasted her weak demeanor and lack of eye contact.

“Right…”

D gave in, Laplas didn’t want him to know anything. So, he defaulted to the only other topic he could think of at the time.

“Thanks a lot for the save there, Laplas.”

Laplas turned and started to walk away, Genje rising and following without a word. Laplas stopped and turned her head a little, meeting D’s gaze for the first time.

“You’re welcome.”

D sighed as he watched her leave. Alone in the throne room, his ‘Thighhigh Sky’ and ‘Maiden Maid’ from his Dragon Hoard ability were still active. He silently chanted their names, deactivating them. D let his head fall back against the throne and spent time there gathering his wits and trying  to relax. It was a tough day. It was a tough night before. And now…

D rose and left the throne room.

Meanwhile, Saten and Koto back at the inn headed towards the castle to check on D. They expected to meet Juno there, but Saten grew worried. The fight with Basquash didn’t take that long. Juno can’t fly that fast. In her worry, she finally voiced her concerns to her taciturn father.

“Dad, can you use that tracking spell to find Juno? She’s a catgirl maid that travels with D, I haven’t seen her since she flew off to the castle. Recently I’ve begun to view her as a friend…”

Saten didn’t want to ask, so she felt the need to present the request like that. However, Koto stopped his tall lanky frame and faced his palm upwards. Blue veins extended from his hand outward into the air, forming a circle representing the city as he searched.

“Any more details you can tell me?” Koto addressed Saten with an even tone.

“Ah, she has a lord-class drill. You know, the ones the Cat Kingdom uses? It’s an unusually expensive one.”

“She’s related to a lord, huh,” Koto whispered to himself as he adjusted the spell. It allowed him in the past to be the top person, Saint or not, to come in contact with Laplas again and again, causing her endless grief and some sleepless nights. Their relationship gradually improved later on, so it wasn’t all bad.

“Out of range. She can fly, you said? How?” Koto questioned Saten.

“It’s a lord-class maid outfit. Can you make the range bigger?” Saten said. She expected her Dad to only have a small range in the first place, she’d only heard of his tracking spell in whispers and indirect conversations growing up.

“Hmm.”

Koto expanded the circle outward, and blip appeared

“She’s stopped on a mountain.”

“A mountain? She was supposed to be heading to the lordmaster’s castle to find D, that doesn’t make sense,” Saten said.

“Follow me then. Let’s go pick her up. The threats eliminated so Juno’s location is the most pressing matter.”

Saten followed Koto without a word, telling herself to leave it up to D. She didn’t even consider the possibility that Juno was attacked by a mysterious opponent the moment she took to the air.

D stood in front of the inn layered with bodies all around him. Another ambush he beat his way through.

“They really don’t like me…”

Now that he knew the Lords were waiting for him elsewhere and that he got set up and trapped since entering the city, he felt like it would be best to leave. However, Saten’s warning about the political problems that would crop if he did that bothered him to no end.

“I’ve got to do the Lord thing seriously… A normal person would be dead a thousand times over, definitely!”

They wanted his bulletblade, a country-class magic weapon. So no expense seemed to be spared here, but he was starting to wonder just how much and who would keep throwing bands of low lifes his way. D entered his room, the baggage they carried piled in the center. He expected Juno and Saten at least if the gear was there. D skulked around, eventually knocking on Laplas’s door.

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A note slipped from under the door. As usual, D pulled out his pen and took up the note ready to write a response until he saw the message there. D wrote down a thank you and pushed the note back under the door, returning to his room and laying down with his arms behind his head.

“So Saten met her Dad and Juno fought a giant falcon, and now Saten’s going to pick her up because that fight blasted her far outside of town? Great, now what do I do…” D groaned.

He closed his eyes and mulled over the issue. However, he came to a resolution almost immediately. D can’t leave unless he finds the Lords and negotiates with them somehow, and he’s just learned that he has a perfect source of information right down the hall.

D took a walk after having the note passing discussion with Laplas. D didn’t expect she would be willing to help, but he took it upon himself to muster the will to ask and was surprised at the result. He had a perfect map in front of him, drawn to the smallest details. Laplas wrote on the note that Genje drew it from memory.

“That girl’s amazing, shadow demon or no, I’m lucky. I guess? I mean, this could be another difficult fight where I almost die again, right? I left Saten and Juno behind for that reason, right? Hopefully Juno’s okay…”

D had confidence Saten could handle the healing, but he cursed himself for leaving Juno alone. Next time, he wouldn’t bring her with him to such a dangerous place. But, would Juno be okay with that? Somehow, he could only imagine her saying no. Because obviously, Saten would definitely be there with him being a war veteran and a Saint.

“Well, she’s not a Saint anymore, the Laplas note gave him said. There goes my political support.”

D had hoped that the whole support of Saint thing would get him maybe a bit of leverage, but now that D learned about the whole chimera persecution thing he rubbed his chin as he walked to the mansion, studying the map as he did.

“How the hell can I pull this off?” D asked himself.

He thought of the various decisions he made since he came to this world. Being aggressive with Juno, bad idea. Way too out of his normal behavior, made him uncomfortable. Getting talked into talking to Saten, good idea. Or not? D did end up a Lord because of that. But hey, no one said politics was easy.

“I do have a castle, a maid, a mistress, a mysterious freeloader, and a talented shadow demon spy. That’s nice. Oh, and the dragon powers and the bulletblade. No, life is good. I almost lost all of that today and I didn’t even know I had a shadow demon spy before today. Though, is that shadow demon spy mine? I mean, technically…”

People stared at D as he argued with himself aloud about his situation. Before long, he found himself in front of the mansion gate, his wings popped out. D folded them around his body and adopted an aristocratic air. I care about nothing in this world. I am very, very bored. D focused on that feeling, trying to get into character. D had a plan. He looked to the guard, and pointed at him with a straight arm.

“Grant me access, peasant. I am displeased. I am Lord D!”

The guard kept silent, laughing deep inside his heart as he whispered to another guard who ran off to check with the mansion’s inhabitants. The guard then resumed his stance and waited with D in awkward silence as D’s face grew even more bored and superior looking at the same time. The guard tried to ignore D as best he could. Finally, the other guard came back and mouthed a ‘yes’, and they let D into the gate.

D made sure to walk slowly. If anyone is looking at him, that’s the first indication that he’s actually very awesome and did not mind at all about the traps, the army sent after him, or the thugs he just thrashed in front of his inn. Also, the poison everywhere. D wanted it to look like he had a peaceful night’s rest and this is merely a bother.  

D imagined in his mind the smuggest possible person. His memories flicked back to his days back on our world, through tv, movies, games, everything. He never met a smug person in real life until he came to this world, and that person was undoubtedly Brutus. D held that image in his mind, imagining his face that way and trying to over do it a little bit. It had to show.

As for the reason why he needed to be smug, well-

D slammed the door’s open wide, they ratted in their hinges and cracked the frame. A butler stood there in shock with a sweaty face, he dodged back just in time to avoid getting pancaked. D thought that the polite thing would be to knock and wait for some attending butler to receive him. However, he’s not playing someone polite.

“Hmph. Kneel.” D commanded.

The butler ran away. D kept his face smug even though he got dissappointed that the butler didn’t listen. Not forceful enough?

A girl D’s age came, a long brown ponytail tied high and an unmistakable japanese sword at her waist, she sneered at him with an unamused face.

“Sebastian, tell the staff to avoid the dining room for now.” said the girl as she approached D.

“Chimera, ‘dragon boy’?” She said, pointing to his dragon wings wrapped around his body like a cape.

“My illustrious and powerful name is Lord D, master of the town of Locos. Address me as so, vile woman!” D told her. Inside, he praised himself.

“Uh-huh,” she contemplated for a moment what to do with this absolute disaster of a demi-human in front of her before she heard Silva’s voice from the dining hall.

“Just bring him in! It’s fine!”

The girl sighed and put her hand on her sword hilt, addressing D casually.

“I’m Bisha, Lord of Oricalcos. If you want to win some friends, I’d drop that act. Talk to me later if you have something good to say.”

Bisha lead D who didn’t break character at all as he was lead into the dining room. There seated was Silva on a nearby reclining couch being fed grapes via by her staff Heraclitus. Heraclitus picked them off the vine with a blue aura, and levitated it into Silva’s mouth. Around the table, a rough looking older man with bloodshot eyes clutching a wine bottle and a smiling older woman sat.

“Bisha, sit him down. Let’s get started,” Silva said, rising to her feet and taking one last grape from Heraclitus before sitting at the vast dinner table. The distance between each of the lords was large, as if on purpose. Although there was ample seating, Bisha chose her last seat far away from D who immediately gravitated towards the end seat, preparing himself for a speech before he sat. Ahem. D didn’t expect Silva to be here, he had a good chance to ask a question about Laplas and their relationship. However, that would break character so-

“Greetings, lesser nobles. I am Lord D, I defeated Lord Ros with my bare hand, shoved directly through his body due to my pure and noble dragon strength. If you deny me my lordship, then you will all suffer the same fate!”

A murmur of “Really?” came out from Bisha, Silva ignored him, the old man looked up from the table lazily, and the older woman kept smiling.

“Better than Ros, I guess?” the older woman said.

“Villa, who isn’t better than Ros?” the old man responded. They both ignored D as he flourished his wings and sat at the table with smugness.

“Good point. Did you have fun at my castle, D?”

“I effortlessly defeated the Dwiffking and the Troll King in battle,” D said.

“He got ambushed and almost died, spear right through the heart. He’s amazing!” Silva commented. D kept his face straight. Admit nothing.

“Wait, spear right through his heart? Are you serious?” said the old man.

“Yeah. His strength is the real deal, even though his training and experience are lacking the war effort should be bolstered significantly, Marscione.”

The vampire girl Silva ignored D entirely. Marscione, the old man, slammed his wine bottle down and straightened up. He looked to D and adjusted his clothes in futile effort to appear like he cared. Marscione smiled at D.

“Okay, then, ‘D’. Introductions. I am Lord Marscione of the royal capital of Marscione. It’s a title and name, you’ve heard of it? Please, be generous with us.”

The older woman spoke up, her smile static.

“Seems like you’ve had a rough day. Silva just got back from the castle, it’s amazing you survived. I’m Villa, Lord of Quellos. Nice to meet you.”

Silva looked to D as Heraclitus floated behind her side.

“I’m Silva, the vampire Lord of Zion. Your lordship was confirmed already, due to recent events. Guanyi, the Lord of Chinos has died. Our alliance is already weak as is, and our dedication to exterminating chimera like you has become unpopular of late. Perhaps you’ve heard of Laplas, the Black Bunny?”

D nodded his head, trying to keep up with the new information and not lose the smug face. It was difficult.

“Her involvement with you that she revealed to me after she used her magic to transform space near me made the difference. Before that, I was all too willing to absorb Locos now that Lord Ros was dead, Saint backing or no. However, your battle potential has been shown to be indisputable in addition to my personal connection. I will excuse you for slaughtering my army if you agree to remain peaceful with Zion and I from now on. Do you agree?” said Silva. She said it without much inflection.

Inside D’s mind, he was still stuck on the vampire part. Silva’s a vampire? I fought a vampire? A little girl vampire? Well - no I didn’t exactly fight her specifically but-

“D?”

D snapped out of it as Silva interrupted his thoughts.

“‘Kay.”

D said that in despair. Didn’t she just say she sent an army after me too?! That army, with the anteaters, the one I shadowflamed?!

“Is he okay?” Bisha muttered.

“Personally,” Silva started, putting her hand on her nonexistent chest, “chimera’s are a minor issue. I’ve only met a few, and Laplas is as harmless as they get. I only hear the insistence to hunt them down from Dwiffking and Nosebeard, his attendant you fought. I think we can be friends, and protect our lands together. What do you say?” Silva said.

“‘K-kay,” D said.

Completely deflated. D looked to the table, sweating. He didn’t expect everything to go smoothly.

Marscione addressed D pointing his wine bottle at him.

“There’s a matter of your blustery attitude you had when you came in. Are you really just a kid? I thought you were a dragon taking the form of a human!”

D sweated. He said nothing.

“Hopefully, he’s more use in the actual war than he is right now…” Bisha murmured.

“Well, D, welcome to lordship!” Silva cheered. She was the only one who did.