“I am Earl Deek Deekson of Chalm.” I announced at the entrance. “Asking for audience with the Lord of Alerith.”

I made sure to show my credentials. The guards look at it and nodded. They didn’t act suspiciously as the guards might have. It seemed like all of those under Demon Lord Aberis might have been purged.

“Master, don’t worry. If there are problems, we’ll fight through them.” Alysia reassured me. “Together.”

“Always.” I smiled.

The guards didn’t waste too much time before letting us in the room. I kept Map on standby and Sense Life running just to make sure there weren’t any abnormalities I was about to run into. I could detect hostile entities. I noticed that these guys weren’t necessarily shown as allies, but merely neutral to me. That was fine for the moment, as the last time I was there, they read all enemies. I considered that an improvement.

We have met a servant who slowly lead us to a receiving room, however, unlike mine which was set up for comfort, this one had the look of a throne room. Even though Lord Reign lived in a mansion and carried out his duties without a castle or palace, he still seemed to go for the throne at the end of the hallway look. I let out a sigh, and let the servant open the double doors and announce me before I entered.

It wasn’t as impressive as the Capital’s palace throne room, but it would be rather questionable if it was. At the end of a long carpet, a chair sat, and a man was sitting in that chair. He looked nearly identical to the man I had seen months prior. He was clean, prim, proper, and had the presence of a lord. He had a crown on his head which seemed to make him more important. The first time we met, he was a rank higher than me, but now I was a rank higher than him. That changed the dynamics of our meeting completely.

“Count Reign.”

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“Earl Deekson.” He responded as the doors shut behind me. “You’re still alive after all.”

“I’m harder to kill than I look,” I responded.

“Is that so?” He raised an eyebrow. “I wonder if you’re the man you claim to be. I seemed to recall there being two of you once.”

“I am me… but I wonder if you are you. I seem to recall that you were the puppet of a Demon Lord once.”

Lord Reign made a bitter face. “That was a long time in the past. You defeated him, and I am no longer influenced by his karmic control.”

So, it had been some kind of control like that. It made a lot of sense. The Demon Lord Aberis who stayed in Aberis was the kind of man who liked to play with dungeons. Using karmic control suited him extremely well. I just wish I knew his connection to the Twilight Princess more. Were they really lovers? How did she tie to Twilight from the deep? I had destroyed every last remaining piece of the demon lord’s lore. He was too dangerous, even in pieces. So, I’d have to find those answers another way.

“In that case, let’s start over.”

“Start over?” Lord Reign’s expression changed. “I have a different proposal.”

“What?”

“Die!”

He reached into his pockets and pulled something from them. I only had a moment to realize what they were. Guns? Where did he get guns?

Alysia appeared as he pulled the trigger, and bullets started flying at me, striking her instead. It took me a second to realize where I had seen those guns before. They were the custom ones I had made for Bernice. Lord Reign had captured Bernice and taken her guns. Feeling a sudden surge of anger and betrayal, perhaps amplified by my helplessness when it had come to Astria and Lydia, I let out a roar.

I exploded forth, and with the wave of my sword, the bullets were swept aside. Lord Reign leaped out of his chair as it exploded into two, but I honed in on him. Fueled with anger, I raised my sword to chop him down, but at that moment he slipped, his foot caught on the carpet. As he fell, I lunged down with my weapon.

“Wait! Master, something is wrong!” Alysia cried out, her blade disappearing from my hands suddenly.

My balance was completely thrown off as I was giving the killing blow, and instead I braced myself with my hands, which ended up landing on Lord Reign’s chest. As this happened, the crown on his head fell off, and his body suddenly morphed. The area under my hands grew somewhat softer.

“Ahhhn!” A girl’s voice cried as my hands gripped onto two soft things that felt somewhat familiar.

“Bernice, is that you?” I squeezed.

“P-p-p-pervert!”

I was slapped in return.