Demon Queened Ch. 12

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Written by Princess Kay

Edited by paradoxicalWitchling

Proofread by FallingLeaf

Abigail

Watching Devilla leap from the window and spread her wings wide, I waited until I could barely make out my Queen’s outline before releasing a pent-up sigh. I wouldn’t want to say it in her presence, but I was a bit relieved to have some time to myself. It felt like all I’d done for the past week was worry about Devilla.

To be fair, there was alot to worry about. The woman had no common sense! Flying to the ocean for salt was one thing, but saving a human town?Befriending the Heroine? She made me want to scream! If it had been anyone else doing these things, I’d have called it treason!

So what did Devilla do to cover her tracks? She told her top-ranking general, the administrator of the entire tower – who had a grudge against her, by the way! – about what she’d been up to. Sure, she pulled it off in the end, but if she hadn’t? The entire tower could have gone into a panic!

Why did I even care so much? I mean, I obviously didn’t want to see our society crumble into chaos or be erased from existence, so helping her was only sensible, but it felt like there was more to it than that. For some reason, I’d actually started to care about her feelings. 

A couple of weeks ago, I’d barely been able to stand her; I had to pretend to be intimidated by her just to keep my job. But she’d changed. She was actually considering others. She listened when I talked, cared about what I had to say, and didn’t treat me like an object to be used, or even a subject to be ruled. She… Hell take me, she treated me like afriend.

…Was that why I was worried about her? Because she was my friend? Holy hell, when didthat happen? Was it when she got angry at that rabbit girl for my sake? Or maybe when she saved me from falling down the tower? How the hell had my feelings changed so much?

Letting out another sigh, I shook my head and turned away from Devilla’s retreating figure.

Standing behind me, staring out the window, was Bailey, who’d apparently shifted to her humanoid form at some point. From what Devilla had told me the girl had been skin and bones at their first meeting, but I didn’t see any signs of that now. She was skinny, sure, but not unhealthily so. Looking over her body’s curves, especially her tits and ass, told me she had plenty of fat where it counted, too. And it wasn’t just her figure that had improved. Since Devilla insisted on washing her regularly, Bailey’s bushy tail and triangular ears were far glossier than the first time I’d seen her. Even the curved red horn that protruded from her forehead seemed to shine. She was actually pretty cute, bordering on sexy.

Not that I had any plans to bed her. Bailey might have been a demon, but she still thought like a monster. Devilla and I both agreed that she shouldn’t have sex until she’d adjusted a bit.

Speaking of which…

“If people see you walking around this floor naked, they’re going to get the wrong idea,” I warned her. A lot of demons went without clothes, including quite a few beastfolk who didn’t want to be bothered with carrying such things in their animal forms, but it was a bit different on the 101st floor. A girl walking around naked in the Demon Queen’s personal territory was definitely going to spark rumors, and I didn’t think Devilla would be happy if she came home to that sort of headache.

Bailey didn’t respond to my comment, though. She just stared out the window, her lips set into a frown, her tail drooping behind her. She stood so still that you could almost mistake her for a statue and she stayed that way until the speck that represented Devilla disappeared over the horizon. Then she turned to me.

“Queen go. I follow.”

I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath, trying to center myself. How was I even supposed to explain everything wrong with that? 

“Right… First off, you can’t go. Even if itwasn’t a terrible idea, you don’t have wings so you can’t fly after her. Second, how many times has Devilla told you to use hername?” Devilla had been teaching Bailey how to speak, using telepathy to bridge the language gap. The wolf was learning pretty quickly; she still struggled to form proper sentences, but you could pretty much always tell what she wanted to say. That also meant Bailey could respond to Devilla’s verbal commands, and she was usually pretty eager to do so.

She wasreally stubborn about some things, though.

“Queen is Queen. But Queen not here. Follow Maid.”

“Follow ‘Maid’? You meanme!? No way! Devilla gave me a mission. I can babysit you when it’s over.”

“Follow Maid,” Bailey repeated, her brown eyes locked stubbornly on mine. “Keep Maid safe.”

“I’m perfectly safe!” I protested, crossing my arms in front of my chest. “I’m just going to the kitchen for some peppermint oil. Whateverthat is…”

“Okay.” Bailey nodded, looking for all the world like she was agreeing with me. I wasn’t bahis siteleri fooled, though! I knew her tricks. An uneasy silence dragged on for one second…two….three… 

“I follow.”

There it was! Just because she understood didn’t mean she was going to go along with it! How many times had I watched Devilla struggle with this? And now it was my turn…

“Fine,” I conceded, letting my arms drop as I walked past Bailey, heading toward the door. “I’ll keep you company, but only during work hours. Devilla isn’t paying me nearly enough to take you home with me.”

“I follow.”

“Look here, you…!” I growled, turning around, but my words died in my throat when I found that Bailey had already sunk down to her hands and knees. Her limbs started to shrink in on themselves, as her mouth pushed its way out into a snout. Within seconds she was back in wolf form, looking up at me with soft brown eyes, her tongue lolling out. I knew she was just panting, but I couldn’t help but think that I was being teased.

Fighting off the urge to groan, I turned toward the door. Bailey followed me out, padding along on all fours. Thankfully, Devilla had been walking around with Bailey a lot lately, so the maids were getting used to the sight of a horned wolf walking down the hall. A few of them still let out muffled squeaks when they saw us, but most just squeezed against the wall and let us pass.

We reached the kitchen without any major incidents. Breakfast had been over for quite a while, and Devilla had canceled lunch, so most of the staff had long since cleared out. Thankfully there was one familiar figure still present, sweeping the floor.

“Cleanup duty again, huh? I thought you’d be above that by now. Didn’t I hear you’d been made the Official Potato Chef?”

Lenora’s head snapped up, her red eyes widened in surprise, but she relaxed when she saw it was just me. She gave me a quick smile before standing on her clawed toes to try and to look over my shoulder.

“Devilla’s not here, if that’s who you’re looking for. She just sent me to get something.”

“Oh…” I couldn’t tell if the dragon girl was saddened or relieved. Maybe both? Devilla would probably be a lot happier if Lenora stopped putting her on a pedestal, but I doubted that was going to happen any time soon.

“So why are you sweeping?” I pressed. “Don’t tell me you’re still stuck on the lowest rung?”

“I-It’s not that,” Lenora said, shaking her head. “It’s just that I’m only really good with potatoes right now, so one of the senior chefs said I should keep sweeping while I learn how to cook other dishes. Everyone else thought it was a good idea, too…”

“Uh-huh…” I didn’t even try to hide the doubt in my voice or on my face. I’d seen firsthand how excited Lenora could get about cooking, and I was pretty sure she knew how to make a lot more than fries. The other chefs were probably just dumping their chores on her, but I didn’t think she’d want me interfering – and shedefinitely wouldn’t want me going to Devilla over it.

I was going to bring it up with Devilla anyway, of course, but telling Lenora that would just make her worry.

“S-So what are you doing here?” Lenora asked, her tail twitching nervously.

“Nothing big,” I assured her. “I just promised Devilla I’d get her some peppermint oil. She said it would act as spider repellant, somehow? She didn’t seem too sure of the details…” Devilla knew alot of different things these days, but while her newfound wisdom seemed to be as broad as the ocean, it was only as deep as a puddle. If I poked her for specifics on anything she’d get all flustered. 

“Pepper-mint oil?” Lenora echoed, frowning in thought. “Is that…Maybe… A cross between pepper and mint? Distilled into oil?”

“You’ve never heard of it either, huh? Guessing it’s not something we have in the tower…” If I passed that info on to Devilla, she’d probably go looking for it elsewhere. Who knew howthat would go? With her luck, she’d probably end up fighting an actual dragon… Though, if anyone could beat the King of Monsters, it was probably the Demon Queen.

“Sorry…” Lenora murmured, furrowing her brow. I thought maybe she was disappointed in herself, but the crease in her forehead disappeared before I could tell her not to worry about it. “We do have mint, though? And pepper? Maybe if you asked the Mistress of Agriculture she could crossbreed them or something. I mean, I know how to make oil with spearmint and the like, so I can probably do it with this ‘pepper-mint’ too.”

“The Mistress of Agriculture, huh?” Now it was my turn to frown. Lenora was talking about Yara, the general of the tenth floor. I didn’t know a lot about her, but what I’d heard was mostly positive. She was straightforward, hard-working, and honest, on top of being a strong warrior. She didn’t think too highly of Devilla, though. Since I was now associated with the Demon Queen, it didn’t take much imagination to picture what sort of welcome I’d receive.

I canlı bahis siteleri considered leaving it to Devilla. She could probably just order Yara to grow some “peppermint” for her and it would be over and done with. If I went, I’d be taking the full brunt of Yara’s distaste with no guarantee of results. Normally, I’d call the choice obvious. Even Devilla would probably say waiting for her was the right call.

But that was exactly why I had to try. My Queen was doing her best to secure a future for our people. It was going to take at least a day for her to come back to the tower, and when she did she’d probably be exhausted, mentally if not physically. Despite that, I knew she’d insist on handling things herself once she found out how much work getting peppermint oil entailed. As if she wasn’t already pushing herself harder than she should…

“Alright, I’ll get Denna to help me send down an official request.” Being the head of Devilla’s household, Denna was technically even busier than the Demon Queen. The fate of our entire species didn’t rest on her shoulders though, so the pressure was probably alittle bit less. If I used Devilla’s name right, she’d do pretty much anything I asked.

That still left me with one problem; the four-legged beast who was sitting patiently behind me, with her tongue lolling out and her eyes practically glued to my ass.

Walking with Bailey about the 101st floor was one thing, since the maids already knew about her, but taking what looked like a monster to another part of the tower was just asking for trouble. I doubted Bailey could be convinced not to follow me though, and ditching her via flight would cause more problems than it solved. I could have her shift into humanoid form, but I wasn’t really sure how she’d react to complete strangers staring at her naked body. Not to mention the rumors that would spread if the Demon Queen’s personal maid was seen escorting a naked demon down from the 101st floor. So far as I could figure, there was only one real option.

“Hey Bailey, how’d you like to raid your Queen’s closet?”

***

Devilla

My wings beat lazily, magically propelling me through the air. The sun was high in the sky, evidence of how late I had slept in. It barely counted as an inconvenience for me, but Lissera had been quite upset about missing ‘peak work hours’. She hadn’t even waited for me to take off, running back to the village as fast as her slender legs could carry her.

After an hour of monotonous flying, the gray walls of Rendra city were finally coming into view. Rising a bit higher into the sky, I was able to see over the circular fortifications that surrounded the city. The sheer number of buildings crammed so tightly together struck me as impressive. In terms of population, Dimona Tower doubtlessly held more people. Its architecture was more impressive – though, considering it had been built by magic, that was a little like comparing apples to… Well, magically enhanced apples. Still, there was something impressive about seeing my first real city. Jacob’s memories contained far greater metropolises, of course, but no matter how clearly I remembered living on Earth I had quite literally been a different person at the time. My current self had never seen so many buildings packed together, or so many humans crowding around each other. It felt like I had reached a milestone.

Despite being oddly touched by the sight, I still remembered to cover myself with an illusion to match the empty sky as I flew closer. 

There were two openings in the wall, so far as I could tell, one on either side. The opening closest to me was blocked by an iron portcullis; although I couldn’t see it from my current position, it seemed a safe assumption that the other one would be similarly defended. A long line of humans stretched from the gate closest to me; a similar procession could be seen on the other side.

As I flew closer, the gray walls loomed larger. Soon I could no longer see above them, and my focus shifted from the buildings within to the people lined up outside. From the bored expression they wore, I could guess that most of them had been waiting quite a while. If I took the time to wait my turn night would probably fall before I could get in. I was hardly phased by darkness, but if I couldn’t find a place to trade my jewels for coins after arriving in the city I was going to have trouble finding an inn. 

And that wasn’t my only concern. When I focused my gaze on the front of the line, I noticed that every person who passed through stopped a moment to speak to the guards. They would then show the guards a slip of paper or hand over a few bronze coins. It seemed that if you wanted to enter the city legally you needed to either provide proper identification or pay a toll. Lacking either, I saw little choice but to sneak my way inside.

Maintaining my illusion, I flew above the city, searching for a good place to land. I decided on a low, squat building canlı bahis that had been built against the interior of the wall, some distance from the gate, in an area that seemed almost devoid of guards. The buildings in that area were covered in dirt, and several of the structures were crumbling if not already collapsed. The building I chose had several cracks running through its roof; the whole thing would likely fall apart if I were to stomp too hard. It wasn’t the sort of building anyone would pay attention to, which made it perfect for my purposes. 

Gently landing on the rooftop, I dismissed both my spell and my wings, then walked to the edge of the building to peer out onto the streets. This particular structure was off the main road, hidden behind several other buildings, which meant you’d have to go through a veritable maze of sideroads and alleyways to even see it. Even still, there were a few people wandering the tiny street that ran in front of it. Likely they were people like me, trying to avoid notice. To look at them, they were fairing no better than the local buildings; their clothes ragged, their faces dirty, and their expressions grim. This area was well suited to my purposes, but looking out upon the poverty-stricken citizenry… it made me uncomfortable. I had to wonder if there were places like this in Dimona Tower, where my people starved and basic necessities went unmet, and whether I could do anything to fix that.

That question would have to wait until my next check-in, however. For now, I needed to get out of there without being seen. I moved over to the rightmost edge of the building and scouted the alley below. Seeing nothing but an empty street, I hopped over the side and let gravity take me. My feet struck the ground, my legs not even bending, the shock of impact not so much as phasing me. Alas, my divine resilience did nothing for my balance. My heeled foot slipped as it hit the ground, sending me tumbling onto my ass. 

I stood back up quickly, glad nobody had seen that, and was in the middle of dusting myself off when a figure darted into the alleyway. She was panting heavily, her eyes wide and full of fear, her body half doubled over as she barreled down the street. She didn’t seem to notice me, perhaps because of the dimness of the alley, but more likely because she was so preoccupied with glancing back the way she’d come. All of a sudden, she plastered herself against the alley wall and stared intently out into the open street she’d left behind.

I was still deciding whether or not I should speak up when another figure strode into the alley, followed by two more. The apparent leader was another woman, with shiny blonde hair and bright orange eyes that were narrowed in irritation. Her well-groomed form made her seem like a completely different species than the first girl, whose green hair was covered in dirt and grease. The blonde’s skin was clear and unblemished, her cheeks round and well-fed. Her clothes seemed well made, even to my untrained eye; while I couldn’t say anything about the materials from sight alone, I could tell that the outfit had been tailored to fit her form.

As for the men who followed her, I could only see them as thugs. Their faces were nearly identical, from their squashed noses to their beady little eyes. They had arms like tree trunks and legs thick enough around that they wouldn’t have been out of place on an elephant. Both of them were wearing brown shirts with short cut sleeves that showed off their muscles, and similarly colored pants. The one on the right had a small green flower embroidered on one side of his britches, which was practically his sole defining feature. Perhaps they were identical twins? The similarity of their clothes made me wonder if it was some sort of uniform, or if they were purposefully leaning into the stereotype of interchangeable goons.

The twins kept a few feet back from the girl, standing side by side so as to completely block the alley’s exit. Since this path led to a dead-end, it didn’t seem like I’d be able to leave without engaging them.

The blonde woman’s lips thinned in displeasure as she looked about the dirty alleyway, her eyes sliding right past the first woman to settle on me.

“You there!” she called in an imperial tone, striding past the other woman and walking right up to me. “Have you seen a green-haired girl? A raggedy little thing. There’s a shiny cross in it for you if you can tell me where she is.”

My eyes darted to the aforementioned figure, whose eyes were now focused entirely on me. She was pale and trembling, perhaps due to noticing me for the first time. Perhaps she was worried that I’d turn her in? From the way the blonde ignored her, I could only assume she was wielding some sort of magic to avoid detection, but for some reason it was having no effect on me.

The blonde girl turned to track my gaze. Slowly, her irritated expression morphed into a smirk. “Is it just me, or is that part of the alley unnaturally dark?”

Dark? It didn’t look that way to me. Then again, with night vision as good as mine, even night and day were sometimes difficult to tell apart. Perhaps the girl was manipulating light to surround herself with shadows?

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