A heavy-duty, six-wheel carriage roared down the road behind a magic cycle.

Caeldaemos and his party had been on the road for a few days on their way to the city of Dunluun. They still had a couple of days of travel left before they arrived. Before leaving, Lady Temerilla shared her Crys-Link number with Caeldaemos’ party. She told them she would let them know if she found out who had hurt her. Caeldaemos also established a domain around her manor and set it up so that only those authorized by Lady Temerilla or Alpen could enter the home. The domain was strong enough to take a full-force punch from Caeldaemos and not even budge. The other benefit of the domain was that Caeldaemos could teleport back to the location whenever he wanted or they needed.

The new carriage was a gift from Lady Temerilla for all their help. Everyone but Caeldaemos and Listamati was inside the comfortable vehicle.

The carriage honked a couple of times to signal a break. Caeldaemos lifted a hand to let them know he heard them.

Pulling off to the side of the road, they got together.

“Ah! The carriage is so comfortable! I’m going to message Lady Temerilla again, thanking her!” Lily pulled out her Crys-Link and began making her message.

“Cael,” Liara called him, even though he was in human form, “Can we get a restroom, please? Also, we would like a bath for the camp.”

Caeldaemos laughed and said he would set camp up. First, he established a camouflaged, defensive domain barrier around the area they stopped. Second, he set up the restroom near the edge of the first barrier. In the final domain, he installed a sizeable above-ground bath.

The bath was a complex domain with quite a few rules set to it. Geon had to help Caeldaemos correct all the rules so the water would be hot enough for everyone and not burn anyone. There was also cleaning, massaging, cleansing, skin and hair/fur invigoration, and a function that acted like a hot tub with water jets.

“First in the bath!” Lily was already in a towel, and Flash Stepped up to the edge.

Rana, who was back to looking like her usual self, chastised her daughter. The poor demi woman had trouble eating with her maw being camouflaged with an illusion. Since then, she had been considerably more at ease.

“It’s your turn to help with cooking!” Rana scolded her daughter.

“Alright…” A deflated Lily hopped down and changed into some comfortable clothes.

Caeldaemos laughed heartily and changed his clothes to a long enough towel to ensure the dragon stayed in a cave. Hopping up to the edge, he eased his way into the bath.

“Ahhh. Single best domain yet.” He sighed in relief. As much as he enjoyed riding his Magic Cycle, it was hard on the body.

Listamati joined him in the bath. “Mmm.” She shivered as she sat down next to him. Leaning up against him, she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.

“Don’t you look comfortable?” Liara joined them, sitting near them.

“Ah. Let me rest for a bit.” Listamati asked.

Caeldaemos stroked her head, bringing a happy smile to the demoness.

Orelia joined them in the bath while Mari was also on cooking duty.

“My lord, I think things are going quite well. It will only be a matter of time before the world welcomes you.” Orelia began.

“Another sermon Orelia?” Liara looked tired of the priestess’ prattling.

“Orelia, I appreciate your faith but do not want people to be forced into things. Also, could you tone down the sermons when it’s us?” Caeldaemos requested.

“Of course, my lord.” Orelia smiled.

Listamati’s eyes opened, and she looked at Orelia. “You’re hiding something, Orelia.”

Orelia’s expression froze.

“Orelia?” Liara caught on.

Orelia sighed. “I’m sorry, my lord. I just… I think you are too nice.”

“Really? What about the ‘melon’ farm from earlier?” Liara brought up.

“Oh! I am not saying he is weak. It’s just I feel like he could have such a greater presence than he does. Demon-Lords of history have had powerful presences.” Orelia clarified.

“Ones of fear and despair. Being the Benevolent Demon-Lord would probably lack presence.” Liara joked.

“That,” Rana and the others joined them, “and this is mostly the beginning. You have to take into account the level of loyalty he gets. Aren’t Lady Temerilla and her household followers now?”

Caeldaemos pulled out a mirror and checked.

Divine Reverence. When a powerful being accumulates faithful followers, they gain divine power. Other than followers, they will require at least one who acknowledges them as their god. The followers will benefit from their worship. Current Number of Apostles: 1 (+100). Current Number of Faithful: 12 (+50 each). Current Number of followers: 234 (+1 each). Current Divine Power: 1134

“I think Temerilla, Alpen, and Hannah became followers. The seven women I saved became faithful. I don’t understand this Divine Power thing… Am I becoming a god myself?” Caeldaemos wondered.

“You would truly be a better god than that garbage goddess!” Orelia praised.

The others laughed and agreed. After seeing several iterations of the goddess’ failures, they despised her almost as much as Caeldaemos.

“Do you think your friend will recognize you?” Lily asked her father.

“Maybe. I’m sure he will be surprised.”

The remaining two days went by quietly. The closer they got to Dunluun, the more traffic they found. Currently, they were at the gate and got checked into the city. Caeldaemos and Liara headed to the mercenary guild while the others went to get some rooms for them. Rana also wanted to look into the local economy and have her golem mice map the city. She now had twenty of them.

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Caeldaemos and Liara entered the guild hall.

“I’m going to check what jobs they have.” Liara skipped over to the kiosk.

Caeldaemos went to the help counter. A bored old woman sat in the seat, but her expression brightened when she saw him.

“Welcome to the Dunluun branch. I can tell you are not from around here.” The woman smiled.

Caeldaemos narrowed his eyes at the old woman. “Are you… the Branch Head?”

He remembered Yan’s journal and how he spoke of an old woman who was the head of the branch.

After blinking a couple of times, the old woman laughed aloud. “That’s right. How did you know?”

“A friend of mine. Do you know Thomas? He’s a ranger.” Caeldaemos asked.

“Him? He doesn’t do mercenary work anymore. That idiot is still in town, living it up with the massive wealth he got.” The old woman commented.

“Can you tell me how to find him?”

“You just missed him. Even though he is retired, he still comes here to train the newbies. I think he goes to a pub down the street. Fire Branders.” She told him.

Caeldaemos thanked her and headed over to Liara.

“Anything good?”

“This one pays well, but…” She trailed off.

“But?”

“It’s trolls.” She sighed heavily.

He looked at her expectantly.

With another sigh, she explained. Trolls were beings that danced between the boundary of corpse and living. Their outer flesh was rotted and diseased while their internals, like the heart and brain, were living. The monster was bipedal and highly aggressive.

“This one should be quick for us since we can both use fire,” Liara stated, having him insert his card for a party.

“Fire is best, huh?”

She nodded as she accepted the job. “Fire burns away the disease and deals with their regeneration. It’s not on your level, but it can be troublesome if you cannot kill them in a single blow.”

Caeldaemos told her he had found out where they might find Thomas, and they headed to Fire Brander.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas sat at his table in the pub he and his friends enjoyed most. “To Yan, Winston, and Charlie. Best damn mercs in the world.” He downed his drink.

“Giving a toast to your party?” Another patron asked.

“Yeah. They went ahead of me to the afterlife. So, I will praise them until the day I die.” Thomas replied.

“To the greatest mercs in the world!” The patron cried. Many within the pub seconded the call.

Thomas’ table shook, and the old ranger looked in front of himself. His eyes trailed up and further up until he looked upon a smiling face of a giant man.

“Uh, I don’t owe you, Tress, do I?” Thomas asked nervously.

The giant man laughed. “Nah. But you did promise me a drink.”

A drink? Did he know this man? His face looked familiar somehow, but nothing was clear.

“That sounds like something I would do. But, I’m sorry, I don’t remember you.” Thomas said.

The giant chuckled. “Last time you saw me, I carried a trunk on my back.”

Thomas’ eyes began to widen. But looking at the man, he was human! It couldn’t be….

“Michael?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas set down a few drinks for his two guests in his home kitchen.

“I seriously cannot believe that you came here. What happened to the horns? Wings? How do you look human?” Thomas asked.

“A lot has happened, Thomas.” Caeldaemos took a sip of the golden liquid. “Ooh. That is good stuff.”

Thomas laughed. “My own brand of brandy. Chawinyan Brandy. In homage to my fallen friends.” He raised a glass.

“To fallen friends.” Caeldaemos and Liara clinked their glasses together with the ranger.

“Now, are you going to tell me why you look human and… did you get taller? You look taller.”

Caeldaemos laughed. “Yes. I did get taller.” His expression changed.

Caeldaemos felt nervous. He liked Thomas a lot and would hate it if he feared him. “I should probably start from the beginning.” Caeldaemos began his long story.

Hours later into the day, Thomas listened as Caeldaemos finished his story of their arrival in Dunluun.

“That’s… a bit much, Michael,” Thomas said, gripping his empty glass.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want this fate, but it is what was forced on me.” Caeldaemos replied.

Rana, Lily, Listamati, and Orelia arrived at Thomas’ home. Mari was going about the city, checking into things Rana’s mice found.

“A fucking Demon-Lord?!” Thomas shot up from his seat. “This is too heavy for me, Michael.”

“Well, you did get your wish.”

“Wish? What wish?” Thomas asked.

“Caeldaemos the Benevolent. That is my title.”

“Heh.” Thomas started. “Heh, heh, heh.” A wide smile came to the ranger’s face. “Hah, hah, hah, hah!”

Caeldaemos’ nervousness dwindled a little.

Thomas looked square into the Demon-Lord’s face. “Well.” He filled their glasses. “Cheers to Caeldaemos the Benevolent!”

The tension was finally relieved. They cheered and drank.

Thomas took his seat. “Something is bothering me, though, about your story.”

“What is that?”

Thomas took a moment to put together his thoughts. “It’s about your beginning with Sylfaerune. If what she said to you and what you have become correlate, it means the gods create the Demon-Lord.”

Caeldaemos turned to Rana and had her take over. “Cael and I have been working on a theory for some time. Every race believes that when tensions in the world reach their peak, the negative energy gathers and gives birth to the Demon-Lord. Taking into account what the goddess said….” She took a deep breath. “We believe that the gods use the Demon-Lord as a way to prolong peace in the world.”

“What? That’s insane! Hundreds of thousands, millions! Of people have died from previous Demon-Lords! You expect me to believe that?!” Thomas exclaimed, mostly wanting to deny the idea.

“It makes sense when you think of it logically.” Listamati cut in.

“How?” Thomas was losing hope.

“I’m actually a demon. I heard that the tensions between humans and demons were getting close to a world war. Fae-folk in their remote area would probably be untouched, but the demi-humans would have greatly suffered. You say millions had died from previous Demon-Lords? That was for hundreds of years, with only the Pestilence one being the deadliest. Following him was Eevicaln the Lustful, who caused a population boom. If the gods controlled the birth of the Demon-Lord, it makes sense that they made a mistake and used another to make up for the lost people. How many years has it been since the last war between nations?” Listamati asked.

“I… It’s been nearly a millennium.” Thomas deflated, understanding her points.

“The gods use the Demon-Lords to sacrifice the few to save the rest. A powerful common enemy that can bring the races together so that they can realize that they are not all that different from each other. It’s not pretty, but it honestly works.” Listamati finished.

“How…? I feel so betrayed.” Thomas looked like his soul had been crushed.

If Orelia had been a demi-human, her tail and ears would be twitching excitedly. “Why not put your faith in my lord?”

Thomas looked up at her in confusion.

“Orelia…” Caeldaemos sighed.

“My lord! He has lost faith in gods who do nothing but sit in the heavens! You, on the other hand, have cleaned up many of the messes of that garbage goddess!” Orelia argued.

Thomas snorted. “Fancy yourself a god, eh?” He joked.

“I do have a thing for that,” Caeldaemos replied.

Thomas learned about divine reverence.

“Well, I won’t abandon Orbus, but consider me a follower,” Thomas said.

A side door opened, and a woman holding a baby entered with a desperate look. “Thomas! I need your help!”

“Yuna?! What’s wrong? What happened to Arthur?” Thomas went to her.

“He has a terrible fever and is having difficulty breathing!” Yuna cried.

“Let me.” Caeldaemos went over and used Panacea.

Arthur quickly looked better, and his face returned to its normal color. His breathing cleared up, and he slept peacefully.

“What? What did you do?” Yuna asked.

Caeldaemos smiled. “Helped Yan’s son.”

Yuna gazed at the warmly smiling man in awe.

“Yuna. This is Michael.” Thomas gently informed her, relieved that Arthur was cured.

“Michael?” She looked between the two men. “Weren’t you supposed to be a demon?”

The two men laughed.

“Turns out he got the ability to alter the way he looks. Michael, this is Yuna, and this little guy is Arthur.” Thomas formally introduced the two.

“A pleasure to meet the both of you.” Caeldaemos held out a finger for the now-awake Arthur to grab onto.

The boy cooed and giggled.

“You must be a gentle person, Michael. Arthur is pretty sensitive to people.” Yuna smiled.

“Well, little guy, I pray for your good health.”

A flash of light passed from Caeldaemos’ hand and over the boy.

“Uh, Michael, what did you just do?” Thomas asked.

“O-One sec.” Caeldaemos checked the boy’s status.

Arthur

Class: Human Rank 1

Str: Rank 1 Dex: Rank 1 Int: Rank 2

Status:

Physical: Normal Magic: Normal Mental State: Happy

Injuries:

Special: Sharp Senses, Divine Blessing of Health (Minor)

Skills:

Abilities:

Caeldaemos sighed heavily and dropped to his knees in relief. “Okay. It is not as bad as I thought it was going to be.”

“Cael?” The ladies, who were quiet the whole time, looked at him questioningly.

“So, I have some good news that will probably bring up many questions.” Caeldaemos said to Thomas and Yuna.

Divine Blessing of Health. A life-long blessing was given to a being by another who possesses true divine power. This blessing increases the health of the blessed based on the strength of the gift. Strength: Minor.