The spectators began to mutter after I made my announcement. With my high perception, I was able to pick up on what most of them where saying, and I wasn’t particularly happy about what I heard.
“Isn’t she only barely an archmage? Will she really be able to help?” whispered one man.
“Who is she again?” asked a rosy-cheeked woman holding an empty glass of champagne.
“Ha, I can’t believe she just said that in front of the heroes of Ludberg.” snickered a boy no older than 16. “Even they could barely defeat one Demon King. What’s she gonna do against the rest of them?”
I looked over at Natalya and Alexei, to see how they were reacting. Alexei’s scowl had deepened, but I doubt I could have said anything different to prevent that. Natalya was wearing a wide grin, but I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of a grim expression before the smile appeared.
“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Lucy!” she said. “You would be a great help, and you would be able to protect the people from danger. Right, Alexei?”
“It would be if she weren’t a-” the rest of his sentence was cut off by Natalya casting mute on him, but he was clearly mouthing ‘-Demon King herself’.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to outdo his grandmother’s spell long enough to say what he wanted, he simply stopped talking, and looked at me smugly, trusting that there would be others who had read his lips. I shot him a glare, then turned to the Saintess as she began to speak.
“On behalf of Themis, I thank you.” Though she spoke softly, everyone nearby quieted in order to hear. “I look forward to your assistance in the war against the Demon Gods.”
“I look forward to assisting,” I replied.
There was a moment of awkward silence, and I noticed the Saintess glance at Diligence a few times, first casually, then pointedly. The cat-person did not notice the first few times, but when he did, he suddenly flinched, then turned to me.
“Archmage Lucille, I believe that it is best that we return to the cathedral to discuss the details of your involvement,” he said. “In the war for peace, every second is important, so it is imperative that we plan out your role.”
“Ah, don’t be so hasty, Diligence,” said the Saintess, a smile tugging at her lips. “We must greet the king first. It would be rude to attend a party and not greet the host.”
“O-of course, Saintess,” he said looking slightly confused.
“No need to go looking for me,” rang the king’s voice from the direction he had left from only moments before.
A few seconds later, the crowd parted behind me, and the king strode back into my little clearing in the crowd.
“I had heard that you arrived, Saintess, but I never would have guessed that you would go straight to the place I had just left,” he said jovially. “Archmage Natalya, Sir Alexei, Diligence. I am honored that you all could join me on this occasion. I know that your time is far too important to be spending on trivial festivities like this one.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” said the Saintess, smiling serenely. “As the Saintess, there is nothing more important to me than seeing the people happy and thriving”
“It is the same for me,” said Alexei, dropping his scowl in favor of a much softer, but still serious expression. “Seeing people being merry and enjoying each other’s company is a great relief to me, as it is proof that my efforts thus far have not been in vain.”
“I feel the same way,” agreed Natalya solemnly.
“I thank you for coming all the same,” said the king. “To have such important persons in attendance is a great honor to me.”
“Thank you for your kind words,” said Evelyn. “Unfortunately, I will need to be leaving shortly. Archmage Lucille has volunteered to help in our efforts to subdue the Demon Kings, so Diligence and I must return to the cathedral with her to discuss our future plans. With such a powerful figure joining our ranks, it is likely that our current plans will change slightly, and we need to resolve this as soon as possible.
“Of course! Do not feel burdened to stay,” said the king, bowing slightly. “Your duties are more important than this silly old man’s whims.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” said the Saintess. “We shall be taking my leave now. I hope that the rest of the ball goes as well as this part seems to be. Blessings from the Goddess. May your days be peaceful and plenty.”
“And yours,” replied the king.
The king bowed back, and the people from the church bowed back, and we parted ways. I followed the Saintess and the Godly Emissary through the crowd back towards the gate. The gate guards seemed confused that the Saintess was already leaving so soon, but did not question it, and simply called for her carriage. The carriage was drawn by two real horses, as was the fashion for the wealthy. Although they could have gotten a magical carriage that moved on its own, and for cheaper than a horse-drawn one, they considered the ability to afford mundane methods to be a symbol of status.
The driver was as confused as the guards had been, but made no protests to his new orders. The Saintess’ attendant who had been reading in the carriage was another story, however.
“Saintess Evelyn,” she said, barely hiding her anger with a smile. “Was the party not to your liking?”
“No, it was lovely,” responded Evelyn, grinning widely. “It is unfortunate, but important business came up, and I was forced to leave early.”
“I see,” said the attendant, glancing at me. “Could it not wait until tomorrow? Attending the Royal Ball is also important business.”
“Oh no, this is much more important,” said Evelyn. “The business I have with Archmage Lucille here concerns the fate of the world.”
“...I see,” said the attendant, clearly not believing the Saintess. Then she sighed, seeming to give up. “Well, if it’s that important, we must get going. Allow me.”
The attendant held out her hand, to the Saintess, and helped her into the carriage. She then did the same for me, but did not extend the same courtesy to Diligence, who clambered in on his own behind me. Seconds after we sat down, the carriage started moving. It was my first time in anything with wheels since Jacques had carted what he thought was my corpse down to the riverside, so I was surprised at how smooth the journey was. The roads in Claude were also cobbled stone, and only in slightly better condition than the ones in Satie, but I did not feel any bumping at all. I sensed mana in the carriage’s suspension, and was wondering what kind of spell might have been used to smooth over the ride like this when my train of thought was interrupted by Diligence speaking.
“Archmage Lucille,” he said stiffly. “I did not get a chance to formally introduce myself at the party, so I will do it now. My name Antonio Verdi, and my title is Baron. Although I am the Godly Emissary of Diligence, I prefer to go by my actually name. You may call me Baron Verdi, Baron Antonio, Lord Antonio, or even just Antonio, if you are so inclined. You are not permitted to call me Tony.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
I thought it was odd that he added that last sentence, but I didn’t think too much about it.
“It is a pleasure to be formally introduced, Antonio,” I said. “I am Lucille. I have no family name or title. You can call me Lucy.”
“Glad to make your acquaintance, Lucy,” he responded.
We spent a minute traveling in silence before I spoke again.
“So, the Demon Kings,” I ventured. “I’ve been fairly secluded in my training, so I don’t know too much about them. I know there’s one behind the civil war in Maradona, and that there’s a dragon who nearly took over Griegland, but that’s it. Are there others? I heard that there could be up to seven.”
“Where did you hear that from,” asked Antonio. Though I couldn’t really read his feline facial expressions, the straightness of his ears and slight tilting of his head gave away what he was thinking.
“Anatoly Ivanov. Archmage Natalya’s father.”
“Ah,” he said, his ears visibly relaxing. “That makes sense. Yes, there are a total of seven. Well, six, since one was already slain. They are based off of the Seven Deadly Sins. I trust you know what they are?” I nodded. “Good. Then allow me to give you a brief overview of the current situation:
“Gluttony was located and slain over five years ago by your master, Archmage Natalya, Orderbound Blade Alexei, and a large company of paladins and powerful Adventurer volunteers. Of the remaining six, we are aware of the identities of three. Wrath, Greed, and Lust. Envy we have had sightings of, but we have not been able to figure out who they are. Sloth is unknown, but we aren’t too worried about them. Sloth, by nature, is inclined not to cause problems. Us discovering them might inadvertently cause them to do something when they would otherwise be more than happy to do nothing.
“Pride, however, has caused us a bit of a headache. Historically, Pride is the most destructive of the Demon Kings, but we cannot figure out who they are this time, or what their motives might be.”
“Do you have any suspects?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes, but any further details will have to wait until we arrive.”
“I see,” I said.
We continued on in silence for another minute when I felt the carriage finally slow and come to a halt. We emerged from the carriage in a dark driveway at the back side of the massive cathedral.
The Saintess attendant led us inside, and then down a few halls and up a few flights of stairs until we reached an ornate wooden door with a plaque on it that read “Godly Emissary of Diligence”. Diligence took the lead this time, opening the door to his office and waving us in.
The office was exactly what I expected of someone given the title Diligence. Everything was symmetrical, and the whole place was neat and tidy to an extreme. Bookshelves lined the walls on either side, with each book a uniform height and organized alphabetically by author. There was a long, low table exactly in the center of the room with identical couches on either side equidistant from the table, and also aligned to be perfectly parallel to the walls and table. There was an armchair on either end of the table, and a desk behind the far chair, all perfectly centered and facing perpendicular to the side walls.
The Saintess sat down on one couch, remaining straight-backed with the same dignity she carried herself with at the ball, and I sat on the couch opposite her, matching her posture.
“Gisele, please go prepare us some tea,” said Saintess Evelyn. “Just for two, though,” she added hastily.
“As you wish,” nodded the attendant, Gisele, before leaving the room.
“Now, let’s get down to business,” said Antonio, leaning forward.
“Wait a second,” I said, holding up my hand to stop him. “Before we start, Saintess, you can be more comfortable. You don’t need to keep maintaining your image in front of me.”
Saintess Evelyn looked surprised for a minute, then grinned widely. “Thanks!” she said, immediately relaxing her posture and slouching back.
A moment later, she decided that she still wasn’t relaxed enough, so she kicked off her shoes and laid down on the couch with her feet toward the door, and propping her head up on her elbow. As she flipped, her hair, which had been perfectly straight, framing her face, became disheveled, and tangled. The change was so abrupt that I was certain there was a skill at work to maintain it.
“Saintess!” said Antonio, looking alarmed.
“Much better,” she sighed, ignoring him.
I laughed out loud, and relaxed my own posture, leaning back on the couch. “Well, I knew you were holding back, but I never would have guessed it was this much,” I said.
“Oh, you have no idea,” she said. “Those formal events are such a pain. Thanks for helping me get out of there so fast. I know you didn’t mean to, but you did, and now I don’t need to spend hours and hours greeting and blessing random rich people. You can call me Evelyn in private by the way. Or Ev, or Lyn. I don’t really care much. Anything but Saintess.”
“Saintess!” said Antonio again with his ears folded back in horror.
“Ah, relax Tony. It’s fine. She’s not gonna say anything.”
“But if word gets out that you insulted the nobles like that-”
“Tony,” said Evelyn firmly. “It’ll be fine. Lucy won’t tell anyone. Right Lucy?”
“Right,” I affirmed.
“See? We’re fine. Chill out.”
Antonio shrank back slightly, but his ears started to return to their natural state. “I told you to call me Antonio,” he said.
“Whatever,” she said. “So, back to business. Go ahead. Tell her about the Demon Kings that we know about.”
Antonio glared at her, seemingly angry, but grudgingly obliged, turning to me.
“As I was saying in the carriage, we know the identities of three of the Demon Kings. Wrath is Prince Donato Maradona of Maradona, and is, as you said, responsible for the current civil war. Until a year and a half ago, he was believed to have been killed in a hunting accident five years prior. He returned with a small band of loyal followers, claiming that his uncle had killed him and his father in order to claim the throne. Ever since his emergence, he has been traveling across Maradona with his followers, picking off the nobles aligned with his uncle, one by one.
“Patience was sent to attempt to deal with him, as she would be his opposite, and the most likely to be able to defeat him, but we lost all contact with her nearly a year ago, and are currently working on other solutions. However, in her correspondences before her disappearance, she said that she believed that win or lose, once the civil war was over, Wrath would no longer be an issue. In fact, he could even be used to help take out Greed, since we have evidence that Greed helped to fund his uncle’s takeover.
“Greed is the dragon Midhna. You mentioned that the dragon had nearly taken over Griegland? Well, that was false. He had taken over Griegland in all but name. Nearly every single dwarf in any position of power was in his pocket, and he had his claws in nearly every major business in the nation. Chastity and Temperance managed to smoke him out, but nearly died in the process, so Humility was sent to join them. That was three years ago, and they have been hunting him ever since.
“Finally, Lust is-”
Antonio’s speech was interrupted by the door opening as Gisele returned with the tea. She was smiling as she entered, but her smile immediately turned into a look of horror when she saw Evelyn.
“Saintess Evelyn!” she exclaimed, nearly shrieking.
“What?” said Evelyn, looking annoyed.
“What are you doing?!” asked Gisele, as she rushed forward and set down the tray with the tea.
“Having an important conversation about the fate of the world,” said Evelyn, nonchalantly.
“You can’t be lying down like that! What if someone sees you?!”
“It’s ok, I’m wearing pants underneath my dress.” she pulled at the hem of her dress to prove her point. “If anyone looks, they won’t actually be able to see-”
“That’s not the problem here!” said Gisele, panickedly pulling the dress back down while Evelyn smirked. “You have-”
“-an image to maintain, yeah, yeah, I know,” finished Evelyn. “So help me maintain it, and guard the door. Make sure no one else comes in.”
Gisele seemed to inflate with rage for a few seconds before deflating and bowing her head in submission.
“Fine,” she said angrily.
She grabbed the teapot and poured the tea into the two cups she had prepared, moving very quickly, ignoring the droplets splashing onto the tray. She shoved one cup towards Evelyn unceremoniously. Evelyn took it, and started sipping with her free hand, moving slowly due to the awkward angle her head was at. Antonio’s cup was handed to him with much more care, and he accepted it gratefully.
“Delicious as always. Thanks Gisele,” said Evelyn as Gisele marched out of the room.
“Hmph,” responded her attendant as she swiftly exited and closed the door behind her.
“Alright, now that that’s done,” said Evelyn. “Go on, Tony.”
“It’s Antonio,” said the cat person. “As I was about to say, you actually already are acquainted with a few of Lust’s family members. Notably his mother, Archmage Natalya. Lust is her son, Alexander Tchaikovsky.”