Teyva watched the two of them carefully even as she kept a placid look of amusement on her face. Not that she wasn’t aware that her smile looked a little sinister when she was in this position, of course she was, she was counting on it. While it wasn’t something they could be entirely blamed for, they had interrupted her family time, so she felt like pulling a little prank on them. Perry and Azrael had been more than happy to facilitate her game of intimidation and it seemed to have worked. In all fairness, though, they really didn’t know any better so she couldn’t exactly blame them.

The two earthlings-turned-heroes looked at one another in confusion. The two looked back up at her, hesitation clear on their face. Teyva raised her eyebrow, “What?”

It’s considered improper to speak without permission to a royal in Katali society, sister. Azrael said through their connection, a hint of amusement in her tone. She was clearly enjoying this as much as Teyva was.

Oh, whelp, I didn’t know that, Teyva grunted back at her.

You would if you paid attention when I was teaching you about them, Paraklytus cut in.

Oh go play with your fancy magic gizmos, Teyva shot back before clearing her throat, “You may speak freely, heroes,” She said with a dismissive wave, trying to make herself sound more dignified. She saw Azrael’s shoulders tense as she restrained a chuckle and resisted her own urge to roll her eyes. So much for royal dignity, but she supposed she didn’t ever really enforce it unless she was pissed off.

“Um…” The woman, Delilah, looked at her companion before looking back up at her. She shifted a little on her feet, “Did-did her majesty just say Earth?”

Teyva glanced back at the woman, “Hm? Well, yeah, that’s where you’re from, right?”

The two looked at one another again, growing increasingly confused. Delilah was the one to speak again, “Well… yes, we are. How did you know that?” She asked, unable to help herself.

Teyva shrugged, still resting her chin on her knuckles, “Better question, where are you from on Earth?”

Delilah hesitated, “A state called Vermont,” She said, “A state is-”

Teyva held up her hand, “Vermont, neat. And you?” She asked, shifting her eyes to look at the guy, Mack.

Mack shifted on his feet, “Massachusetts, your majesty,” He said with a bit of a tremble in his voice.

Teyva nodded, “Cool, cool,” She said as if it all made sense. It didn’t really provide her any additional information, she was just fucking with them. It was still fun though. She watched the two of them sweat for a few more seconds before frowning a little, “I thought I said you could speak freely?”

The two jerked to attention and looked at one another in obvious confusion. She’d let them stew on it for a while. Their minds were obviously occupied with other things that were clearly more important than the confusing conversation the Great Demon Lord was leading them on. That was fine. Delilah cleared her throat and stepped forward a little getting a glance from Azrael. She stepped back, realizing that despite the Queen’s casual demeanor there were still rules to be obeyed. Teyva didn’t even react.

“Your majesty, the two of us received a quest to come here,” She began.

“You already said that,” Teyva said, waving a dismissive hand, “Give me the flavor text.”

The two of them looked at one another again before looking back at her. Delilah cleared her throat and her eyes seemed to grow distant for a moment. She pulled her journal out of her inventory and Teyva smiled a little. They were still at a level where they couldn’t just pull their quests up at will in a window, it reminded her of simpler times.

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The woman began to read, “Corruption plagues the Adventurer’s Guild, Hero from another world. Your path to greatness has been blocked before you could even take your first step. There is another option. The Great Demon Lord understands your plight better than you know. Travel through the Green Sea and Across the Wildlands to the City of Osan and present yourself to the Mother of Monsters,” She fell silent after that, closing the journal.

Teyva nodded along, Wow, not bad Journey.

She felt the goddess huff and radiate a little bit of pride at being praised.

She’s too easy, Teyva smirked and pursed her lips, “Were the rewards good?”

Delilah blinked, “O-oh! Experience, Variable Rewards, Reputation with the Great Demon Lord, and an alignment shift, though I don’t know what that means,” The woman said, looking a little sheepish at the admission.

Teyva nodded again, “Not bad! Well, you’ve presented yourself before me, the Mother of Monsters,” She said, finally sitting up and spreading her arms wide, “Welcome to Osan! Now what?” She knew what she needed to do here, and it was a good opportunity. Honestly there were a lot of options and routes she could take with this whole scenario, but she wanted to see exactly what these little heroes had in mind. When the two of them didn’t say anything she frowned and let out a sigh, “Look, quest or no, I don’t owe you two anything. You’ll get a reward from your quest for just showing up so be happy. If you want more than that you’re going to have to speak your mind and give me a damn good reason to care.”

She rest her back against the throne and looked down on them, finally settling a bit more into her royal demeanor, “All fun aside, we are currently enemies. I have every intention of leveling Katal to the ground and skinning the Archduke alive in particular. You heroes are in my way.”

That was when the kid finally spoke. Mack stepped forward and even went as far as to ignore Azrael’s warning glare. He fixed Teyva with a stare and clenched his fists. He was still trembling, but he didn’t break eye contact as he looked her in the eyes. “I won’t languish there anymore! Something stinks back home and the guild is the worst. They’re just increasing their own power and doing nothing with it, I can’t even tell if I’m even fighting on the right damn side or anything. Katal is horrible, did you know they kept slaves? Fuck! Who am I asking, of course you do!” He snapped.

“Mack!” Delilah gasped, reaching out to stop him.

Teyva held up her hand to her and looked down at him, grinning, “Nah, let him cook.”

Seemingly emboldened by her statement, Mack continued his tirade, “I got the Aspect of Presence, I can feel it in my bones that it's a damn good one, but Delilah’s is even better. She can’t use it properly without another Aspect to pair it with, but those assholes in the guild won’t even look our way because she won’t play pet to one of the higher ups! They pick and choose who gets Aspect Stones, Shards, all of it. They confiscate rewards from dungeons and distribute the good stuff to the people they like. We’ve been here barely a year and everythings messed up!”

He set his jaw, “We came here because the quest said that there was another option, so just tell us already, is there another option or did we just waste our time?”

Teyva met his gaze for a few heartbeats, holding it, waiting to see if he had anything more to say. He didn’t say a word. Behind him, Delilah was sweating buckets but he managed to hold his stance even as Teyva angled her influence stat in his direction, pushing down a little with her presence. The guy didn’t even flinch. Was it a side effect of the Aspect of Presence? Neat. More importantly, he didn’t once blink or avert his gaze as she stared at him. Her lip twitched into a smile and she leaned forward, “I like you kid. Massachusetts, huh?”

He finally paused a little, probably finally letting his own words sink in. “Y-yeah!” He managed, firming up his resolve.

“I’m from Chicago,” Teyva said with a smile.

Those three words seemed to knock all the air out of him. His arms went slack and he stared at her, “Huh?” He blurted, “Wait, wait, what?”

Teyva tilted her head, “Didn’t they tell you? The Great Demon Lord is the last cycles hero? Oh, did they not mention the cycles or what the cycles are all about?” Teyva asked with a curt smile, “Why you guys were actually summoned here? What the point of this whole mess is?”

She frowned, her eyes growing hard and her tone becoming brittle, “Of course they fucking didn’t, because Katal is on the wrong side of history. Of course I know they keep slaves,” She said with disgust.

She got to her feet, “You want to know the truth, Heroes?” She asked, looking down at them. “Join up, and I’ll not only tell you everything I know. I’ll sponsor you properly. But let me make one thing abundantly clear,” She rumbled as the very palace shook for a brief moment, the world stilling as she drew upon her power as an ascendant, “This is my world now. I am a Queen on the path of conquest and Katal has long since exhausted my desire to show mercy. If that’s something you can’t stomach, I suggest you go back home.”