#while wisdom says; why are you even in this position in the first place jackass | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

swordslinger95 · 7 years ago

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Have you ever heard of the saying, “Murphy’s law?” There’s an interesting story behind it, but I’ll skip it for now, the gist of the saying is, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” It’s not a very positive saying by any sense or shape, but it’s saved my life more than a few times. Why? Simple, because of that saying, I’m always looking over my shoulder, always on the lookout for when things inevitably go wrong. During my college years, some fool would try to poison me because I was getting better test scores, a jealous roommate would try to axe me for a reason I didn’t quite understand at the time, or on occasion, stopping a pickpocket from going off with my coin purse. This may sound like fruitless paranoia, but considering the number of times it saved my life, I’d say it’s more than earned it’s place in the “favorite quotes” section of my notebook. Right next to “They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.” By one T.P, one of the greatest authors of all time, he’s gone now...but I’ll always look up to him, both as a source of wisdom, and whenever I need a pick me up. His works were hilarious.

But, in hindsight, I probably should have remembered that first saying when Jonathan Faye sat down at the dinner table with us and deposited a large stack of papers in front of my face. After he had woken Alice up, who I learned was his niece (though I hadn’t yet asked why she was wearing a maid outfit), the three of us shared an honest conversation about Andros’ current state of affairs. Apparently, the reason for the poor haul I had seen earlier today had been because of, well, simple over harvest from the Duke and Overlord’s sailors. Believe it or not, fish weren’t some limitless resource, much like the ground if you over-farm it, they needed time to replenish and regrow their numbers before you can harvest them again. Sea maidens, that is to say, Mermaids that are slightly more polite than sea harpies, generally enforce this code of conduct upon sailors, but it appears the seas around Andros weren’t really...how can I put this...enforced as much as they should’ve been. Most Sea Maidens would, in this case, take the offending sailors and pull them under, only releasing them back to the surface when the sailors were on the verge of drowning. No one is really hurt, but no one enjoys being dunked into the water repeatedly, even by good looking women who cover themselves solely with seashells.

...Before you ask, no, they don’t sing, that kind of sound doesn’t travel underwater very well.

As for why they weren’t policing the area, the answer came in the form of threats. You remember that Duke I keep mentioning? Well, as it turns out, there was a sea maiden princess being held captive in the Duke’s castle. Now, keep in mind, slavery is illegal in every country, or at least, those with their head on straight. Even us Demons don’t like it all that much, we have servants, sure, but we, ya know, pay em. Besides, there’s a lot of easier ways to get cheap labor, mainly by the way of golems. But the Duke was sorta exploiting a legal loophole, here. See, Sea Maidens, despite being well known, aren’t exactly officially recognized citizens in these parts, mostly because well, there’s not a tangible way to get an embassy down in the middle of the ocean, or a way to keep a Sea Maiden on land for an extended period of time. So that leaves the Duke able to hold one captive without fear of legal repercussions from his nation, that said, no one is really fond of that tactic, so while he’s able to get away with it legally, he’s barely tolerated socially. The Duke’s name was Arnold Milford the 3rd, and from what I’ve heard of him, he’s not exactly pleasant person.

When I asked Granny about this, she merely said, “Because he’s a jackass.”

I replied with: “Okay, but why though?”

The answer came in the form of a paper being shoved in my face, luckily, I did not get a papercut like usual, (I have sensitive skin) but upon reading the contents of said paper, I immediately understood.

“There’s a new edition of Machi’s journal coming out?” I said, reading the paper.

Granny took the paper out of my hands, flipped it over, and handed it back to me. Shame, I’m an avid follower of Machi’s Journal, how will your adventures end you sly little half elf?

Making a mental note to get that new edition when I got the chance, I looked this side of the paper over. Apparently, there was some kind of ball going on, and Milford the 3rd was hosting it. Normally, that wouldn’t be very strange, Dukes held balls all the time, but this one said that the aforementioned Sea Maiden would be there. Now, remember what I said about a Sea Maiden being unable to remain on land for an extended period of time? I meant that when they had some form of movement or freedom, the best way to keep a Sea Maiden on dry land is to just stuff them in a giant glass jar and fill it with water. The problems with that lay in the fact that such things are often too big and too wieldy to be properly used, and is often seen as just a waste of resources. I mean, it’s just a big ass glass jar with a helluva lot of water in it, you could do a lot of better things with glass then a giant jar to hold idiotic Sea Maidens.

“I’m surprised that the Sea King hasn’t tried to rescue his daughter yet.” I said, “At least by way of mercs, that is.”

Me, Granny, and John were looking over a map of the area, the Duke’s home was a bright red dot on it, and it was smack dab in the middle of an uphill plateau miles away from the sea. No matter how powerful the Sea King’s magic was, there’s only so far the ocean could reach. The plateau itself was called Pruce (a name that I cannot recall without laughing), and there was another town a bit to the southwest though, only a little bit away from Andro’s, though this was one was verging on the edge of city judging by how big it was. The map called it Plaih Plein.

As soon as I read that, I erupted into laughter.

“These lands are generally peaceful, or at the very least, generally boring.” John said, ignoring my outburst, “There’s not a lot of reason for mercs to come here, or at least, the ones that are strong enough to actually accomplish that task.”

As I began to calm down, I could understand what he meant, aside from the Duke Milford and the other Overlord, there wasn’t much to do around here. No ancient temples, no thriving cities (though that does give me an idea), hell, there wasn’t even a boring village with a windmill to burn down so some hero could rise.

...On that note, I made a mental look out for any Heroic types that might show up around here. I could handle myself in a fight, but I don’t think I could last very long against a veteran hero.

As I thought about this, Alice was kind enough to bring us some tea. I still would’ve prefered coffee, but I’ll take what I can get.

Giving the girl a warm smile to show that I meant no harm, I accepted the tea with both hands and said, “Thank you kindly.”

“There’s nothing kind about you, demon!” Alice shrieked, hurting my ears with her sheer volume alone.

Well, that was rude.

“Alice!” John yelled, “Be nice to our guests!”

“It’s fine,” I said, holding up one hand, “I don’t expect to be welcomed here, but...” I gave Alice a pointed, narrow look, “I do expect to be tolerated.” I gave the last word a distinct emphasis to make my point clear. I could handle being named called, but if Alice’s misgivings ever got out of hand, I would do what I deemed necessary.

Which would be a time out in a corner.

What? I’m a demon, not a bully. The only way I’d even consider doing her any actual harm would be if...I dunno, she came at me in a rabid zeal, and not in a good way either, and even then, I probably wouldn’t kill her. The girl hasn’t seen a day of combat, it’d be like picking on a baby. It will accomplish nothing but make you look like moron.

But still, I think she took my message a little too far, since the color drained out of her face again. I resisted the urge to plant my palm against my face and returned my attention to John, offering him an apologetic look for my action.

Which he took in grace, and coughed, “Alice, why don’t you go spend some time in the study? You should really begin reading on mathematics.”

Alice sighed, but took heed of his advice and left.

“...Tell me something,” I began as I watched Alice go, “Is she single?”

From the looks I got, that was not what Granny and John were expecting to hear….which is exactly why I said it.

Their reactions were a mixed bunch, Granny was confused, but keeping calm. Shame, I was hoping to get a bit more out the woman, John, on the other hand, was the exact opposite, his face turned a bright shade of red, and he sputtered out his next words in a confused huff of warm air. I couldn’t really understand any of it, but I just smiled at him calmly in reply…which only confused him more, for some reason.

“Remind me again, what kind of demon are you?” Granny asked.

“I told you, I’m an Overlord.” I replied, turning towards her.

“No, I mean, what kind of demon?” Granny repeated, “Vampire, werewolf…”

“Oh….Oh!” I exclaimed, now that I got what she was saying, I showed her my fangs, “Hybrid, actually. My mother was a succubus.”

“That explains it.” Granny nodded, but raised an eyebrow, “But you don’t look like any succubi I’ve seen.”

“Oh….” I coughed, “Let’s just say I should have listened to mom more and leave it at that.”

My answer seemed to satisfy her and I left it at that, but to get back on topic…. “Anyway, my parents aren’t really important right now. What is important is what we’re going to do. The long and short of it is, we need to get to get these waters flowing with fish again, and that foolish duke is floundering our chances.”

Why yes, I did just pull an alliterative out of my head, you’re welcome. Also, did Granny say she’s see other Succubi? What kind of life has she lead….

“What do you propose?” John asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.

I thought for a moment, “Have either of you two have been to a ball?”

Of course, I wouldn’t expect them to agree to my plan right away, that would just be stupid, but at the moment, I needed some time to actually think. My plan was as follows: Intrude upon the Duke’s Ball rudely and dramatically, I make a big speech about how I will rule this land and burn his castle down. While I’m off being a Demon lord, I wanted Granny and John (and/or whoever else I could grab), to grab the Sea Maiden’s jar and put her into a cart, then which we will drag it into the sea and drop her off. With the princess returned, there was no reason for the Sea Maidens not to patrol these waters anymore. It would take a while for the fish to come back, but it was better to start sooner or later.

Now, if anything out of that sounded like a comedy routine, you would be right. But sadly, the only other thing I could think of was “Break everything,” which wouldn’t fair well with John and Granny.

Now, you don’t need to tell me there are holes in this plan. For starters, I don’t know where the Sea Princess actually is, what kind of container she’s in, what kind of guard duty the guy had, or how we would avoid being captured even if we managed to escape from the ball. These were just a few of the worries I had in my mind as I leaned against a random wall in the center of town. After me and Granny had left John’s home, Granny had decided to go to the store to procure some groceries for tonight’s dinner.

I mean, that was nice of her….I was planning to hunt for food, or something…

Anyway, I was currently deep in thought, trying to figure out my next move. My first gut instinct was to go over to the Duke’s land of Pruce (HA) and scout things out, try to get the lay of the land. So, who was putting up with the Duke, who worked for him and so on.

Slight problem with that, I was a demon, I’d stick out like a sore thumb.

As I mumbled and growled over my problems, I noticed something about the townspeople in front of me.

They weren’t really looking at me.

Now, before you say I’m narcissistic, what I mean by that is, they weren’t looking at me. They’re heads were down, focused solely on whatever was in front of them with a dour expression on all their faces. They were completely and utterly avoiding my gaze, and everyone else's for that matter.

How can I put it in a metaphor….How about….I was a splash of red and black in a sea of greys. Hell, even Granny’s brown coat and John’s blue vest would stick out just as much as I do in this place. It was depressing, to be honest. Where was the color, the life? I couldn’t rule over these people, it’d be like ruling over a group of mindless drones, and while that might work for some Overlords, it would suck for me. These guys had no drive, no will, whether it was beaten down by life or the place they lived in, the truth of the matter was that without a drive to do...anything, they were about as useless as the shit you find on the side of the road. I guess, at first, they were surprised by me, if only a little. But now that I was just leaning against the wall, they probably thought I was of no real importance, and left me to my own devices.

So, that meant I could add in another problem to my growing list of problems. Yay.

Right then, what should I do first?

Well...there should be a school around here somewhere, where the kids would hang out. I should also visit the local fisherman’s guild, or what passed for it around here...then maybe I should stop by the library, if there was one. If not, I would have to find a way to build one.

….And there should be a church, or something. Again, if there wasn’t, I’d have to build one later. What? I don’t care what people worship so long as they remember who's in charge (I.E: ME.).

First stop, the school.

Now, when you picture a school, you’d normally expect a kind young woman graciously teaching the kids and everyone loves her, or you expect a complete hellhole where the rules are viciously enforced and no one likes going there. Both of these expectations are completely understandable, we all have varied experiences in our school life, some good, some bad, but at the end of the day, we all picture school as a place where we sit down and listen to somebody talk for an hour, or if you’re a teacher, you’ll do the talking while counting the days to retirement.

Okay, picturing all that? Good, now crumple that picture into a ball and throw it into the nearest trash can. The school of Andros was neither of those two things. It was a small shack on the edge of town where children gathered for about four hours a day, then went back to help their parents at their jobs. The teacher was a tired old woman, kinda portly, I vaguely wondered if she was related to Granny at, what with that glare she shot me with as I opened the door to the shack.

I kinda wondered what the kids thought of me as I entered the shack, some had wide eyed faces as this demonic lady entered without an announcement, others hadn’t so much as lifted an eyebrow, and...there was that little elf girl I saw earlier. She gave a small gasp of surprise as she saw me, but I paid her no mind, the teacher was who I was focused on.

“Hello.” I greeted calmly, “I just wanted to let you all know, I’m your new Overlord.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the children, a human boy, raise their hand. Inching my gaze to him, I nodded, “Yes?” I asked.

“Are you evil?” He asked.

“Yep.” I replied.

“How evil?”

I gave off a cocky smirk, “Very evil.”

“Ooooohhh.” The boy oooh’ed.

I’ve always liked kids, believe it or not. So young, so full of life...so easy to control, so easy to mold. Just give a kid a decent mother figure, and they’ll follow you for about ten years before they become teenagers, then they’ll follow no one and will probably throw a temper tantrum or two. Or listen to angsty teenage music while wearing black...oorrr swear vengeance on you for some reason like, “You killed my family!” Or something like that, while wearing black.

Kids were weird.

“Is there a reason why you’re here?” The teacher asked, as I looked over the kids, I smiled evilly, which, in adult terms, just meant a cocky smirk.

“Oh, I thought I’d look over the young bloods of this town.” I said casually, “See how they’re doing.”

“Really.” The teacher said, not buying it at all. Good woman, you can stay.

“Yep!” I repeated with a beaming smile, “So, what’s the lesson plan for today?”

“We’re...learning the alphabet.” The teacher said, looking down at her book, which I realized was in horrible condition. Like, it was barely holding together, sheesh, remind me to get these kids some proper textbooks.

“....Is that it?” I asked, looking around the room. Some of these kids had to be at least six or seven, they should already know how to read…Or...do they? “Hey, show of hands, who here knows how to read?”

Out of them all, only the elf girl raised her hand.

“...Okay, Teach, new plan. You teach them math, I’ll teach them the alphabet.”

“....Come again?”

“I have like, three degrees.” I said plainly, looking her in the eye, “Trust me, by the time I’m done, these kids will able to write in ancient elvish. Besides, it’s better if two people handle this instead of just one. If you need further proof of who I am, feel free to ask the mayor about me.”

The teacher, despite her surprised look, couldn’t help but nod at my suggestion. Perhaps it was because she was grateful for the additional help, perhaps it was because she was tired of dealing with kids. Either way, it was important I connected with the kids of this small town while I could.

As much as I wish I could say it was out of the goodness of my heart (yeah right), it was actually because, well, kids made good spies. Even if they didn’t realize it themselves, kids were naturally connected to everywhere in town, and being their “teacher” would mean I could be in constant contact with them.

Meanwhile, the kids on the other hand, went “ooohhh” and “awwww” at the thought of getting a new teacher who looked a lot better than the old hag in front of them.

Looking at the teacher, I smiled politely, “Let’s meet up later to discuss the curriculum. I live in the old mansion at the swamp, but be sure to tell me where you live so we can meet up for chats.” I said.

“Of course.” She replied.

Nodding, I turned around and headed for the exit.

Or, I would have if the elf girl hadn’t tugged on my coat.

Looking down in confusion, she looked up at me and beamed, “Does this mean that you’re gonna rule us?”

“And teach ya.” I said.

“Yeeeee.” The child squealed, her eyes lighting up like stars, and for the record no, that was not a metaphor, her eyes literally lit up and started glowing. That was...weird, who was this kid?

I filed that under “weird shit” in my head, but I smiled at the little kid and gently brushed her hands away. Walking away from the...school, I hesitate to call it that, I made my way over to the local fishing guild.

Well, to call it a guild would be a bit much, in reality, it was just a couple of workshops strapped together where fish were hauled in. The men there were...uh, how can I put this...They weren’t...uh, strapping lads, if you got my meaning. Most of them were old men, skinny young teens, or just guys who looked likely they desperately needed a break. Approaching one of the fisherman, his skin dark and red, obviously he was recovering from a workout or he was in dire need of some sleep, because he was slumping against a wall and breathing heavily.

“Hello.” I greeted calmly, “I’m here for the head of the guild, I heard his name was…”

“Her name, demon.” A gruff voice said from behind me.

Well, that was rude. Frowning, I turned to the sound of the voice and-Oh la la….

Standing in front of me was one hell of a half orc. She stood strong, proud, and had black hair tied into an eye patch. A cutlass hanged at her side, a flintlock pistol strapped into a thigh holster, and she had on the clothes that made every swashbuckler look so...dashing.

Sadly, the only thing that was missing was the hat, every good swashbuckler needed a hat. A nice, big hat with a feather.

“Oh, hello.” I said, brushing back some of my hair as I did, “Are you the owner of this fine establishment?” I asked.

To my surprise though, the Half orc shook her head, and stepped to the side.

There, looking cross and...well, short, was an orange haired, middle aged halfling. Her work apron was covered in fish guts and she had a pair of goggles strapped over her head. She was actually pretty tall for a halfling, coming up to my waist, almost enough to be mistaken for a dwarf, not to mention she was packing a lot of muscle, I mean, I’m not short. If it wasn’t for the fur on her feet, I would’ve legitimately thought she was a dwarf.

Regardless though, this was something of a letdown. Sigh, it’s never what I want, is it?

“Are you the owner?” I asked, trying to keep my disappointment off my face. Evidently, it didn’t work, because the halfling frowned and stepped up to my stomach. There was still a height difference, mind you, but the halfling didn’t seem to care. If anything, she made up the lack of height in emotional weight.

“Yes, I am the owner of this little hovel, and let me two things straight with you, Ms. Sakall.” Oh, good, she knew who I was, thank the gods, “One: I do not appreciate some hotly totty demon lord trying to wedge in on my business, second, keep your eyes off my cousin.”

I blinked in confusion, cousin? Did I hear that right? Replaying what she said in my head, over and over again, I tried to figure out a way a half orc could be related to a halfling. I mean, aside from the obvious “half”’s in their names, there’s not a lot of ways for them to be related.

Apparently, the Halfling had mind reading powers of her, since she slapped me in the thigh, “She’s adopted you nitwit!” The halfling yelled at me.

“Okay, A, that’s rude.” I said, “B, who are you?”

“My name’s Bellmerry William. You can call me Bell.” Bell told me. Okay, good, nicknames, that meant she could be less intense....hopefully.

“And your cousin?” I asked, glancing at the half orc, who had been keeping up a somewhat irritated expression this entire time.

“Razi.” Bell said, and I waited for her to finish.

“....And?” I asked.

“She’s just Razi.” Bell said, crossing her arms, undoubtedly very amused by this confused Demon Lord.

“No last name?”

“Nope.”

“....She doesn’t talk a lot, does she?”

“Nope.” Bell repeated, glancing at her cousin with a smile. Razi, in turn, smiled back.

“Well then.” I clapped my hands together, “Is there anywhere else we talk? I prefer to have this kind of discussion...” I glanced around, some heads have turned our way, “In private.”

As it turns out, Bell did.

And that “private place” was a ship’s cabin.

The S.S Blitzkrieg rocked gently back and forth, it was a nice ship, really. From what I understood from the sailors, it, aside from being Andros’ only ship, was a Brig class. A sort of compromise between a larger man o’war smaller gunboat or schooner, which was nice for long distance seafaring, like going out into deep sea, but uh, for a port town whose main income was fish? Not a good idea. Don’t get me wrong, it could bring in fish, but it wasn’t purpose built for the task. The Blitzkrieg itself was a sort of moldy green, with a white wing sail over the tallest mast. It didn’t have any cannons on the top deck, sadly, but it did have a lot of room for cargo in the bottom.

Now, I want to make this one other point clear, I read all of this from a book, all of this information is pre-thought.

Because about five minutes after I had set foot on that dang boat, I was leaning over the railings and resisting the urge to lose my lunch. I was not good on boats. They just rocked so much.

Obviously, Bell took great amusement at my current predicament, which she expressed through hearty laughter.

“Ha! Demon Queen, I thought for sure you had sea legs!” She laughed at me, how cruel was this woman?

“Uurrrggghh…..” Was my clever response. I hated to admit it, but she was right. I had no stomach, literally or figuratively, for sea travel. Every time I got on a ship I felt wobbly, hell, even thinking about being on a ship at sea would make me lose my lunch. Why? Well, let’s just say that once, my dad took me to a ship once, I fell off the ship, and that’s why I get seasick easy.

Patting me on the back, Bell just continued to enjoy my suffering with a laugh, “Ha, maybe you would prefer to do this meeting on solid ground?”

Despite how tempting that offer was, I would have to refuse it. I had to establish that I could hold myself well in places that I wasn’t accustomed to. More to the point, I had to prevent Bell from setting the tone of our relationship, if we were to work together, it had to be on even terms.

Casting a discrete healing spell on myself, I managed to quell some of the nausea I felt and stood up a bit straighter. Turning to face Bell, I put on a calm expression, “So, Ms. William, I trust you know a little of my story, and I know a little of yours, but what I don’t understand is how these waters became so taxed. I know that the Duke kidnapped a Sea Maiden, but…”

“But you’re thinking that ain’t the only cause?” Bell finished.

I nodded, “I learned a long time ago that things are rarely black and white.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Bell said, moving to lean over the railing next to me, “The Sea Maiden played a large part, to be sure, but that’s just one problem. The other Demon Lord is the other.”

“I figured as much.” I nodded.

“Yep, don’t know that fool’s name, but when the Sea Maiden got herself captured, wanna know what that idiot did? He tried to “wage war” on the Sea Kingdom.”

“...Their capital is like, six hundred miles away, underwater.” I gaped.

Bell nodded, “Yep, but he didn’t exactly care about that, so he figured that he could, you know, starve them out, so he had his boys take up fishing.”

“But Sea Maidens don’t even eat fish.” I said, “Don’t they eat, like, kelp or something?”

“Like I said, he’s a fool. From what I can gather, he’s got lots of power, but not a lot of brains.”

I could understand what she meant, a lot of Demon Lords were usually pretty strong in combat, but, like some kind of divine trade off, not a lot had brains, but usually those very same Lords were killed off by adventuring heroes by exploiting said lack of brains. After all, it didn’t matter you could bench press a castle if you couldn’t move from a powerful ice spell. Sometimes I wonder if their lack of brainpower was because of one too many hits on the head, on the flipside though, Demon Lords that were smart, usually had a lack of power because they spent a lot of time reading or planning. Those Lords also went down because, well, you can only plan for so much before someone caves your skull in with a hammer. The Demon Lords that had brains and brawn both were few and far between, and I could probably count them on both of my hands.

So, that would mean my neighbor was probably either very lucky, or very powerful, either way, I would have to plan my steps carefully.

Still, taking care of those two were the most immediate steps, but for the time being, I would have to focus on the Duke. He was probably easier to handle, and no one would miss him. Still, that did raise the question, how was he staying in power all this time? He had to have some pretty powerful connections, because the local human kingdoms should be breathing down his neck…

Hm, must have a friend higher up, or something.

“Okay, that’s another problem to worry about.” I muttered, returning to lean on the rails.

“What is?” Bell asked.

“Oh, just wondering how Milford is still in business. Like it or not, kidnapping the Sea Princess has a lot of ramifications, I’m honestly surprised that he hasn’t let her go yet.” I said, “He’s probably got a few connections.”

“Probably.”

“So tell me something,” I began, “Let’s say a best case scenario happens and the fish start coming back, how long....”

“How long until we can start fishing safely again?” Bell guessed.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Well...if the maidens let us, I’d say about a year or two.”

I winced, “That long?”

“Yep, and even then, I’d imagine that they’ll be sticky about what we can take.” Bell finished, clearly following my train of thought.

“Great.” I slumped, “I’m gonna have grey hairs before I’m thirty….”

Bell patted me on the back again, this time a bit more comforting, “If it makes ya feel any better, most people are sick of Milford’s antics too. Somebody’s bound to remove that idiot from power.”

“And I’m grateful for that,” I nodded, “But here’s the thing, it also needs to be me. If Andros is to stand on it’s own two feet again, it needs to establish itself. If someone from the human kingdoms takes Milford down, that Demon Lord will probably move in and take over the area, including Andros.”

Bell raised an eyebrow, “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the difference between you and him?”

I snorted, “I, at the very least, am willing to hear what other people have to say. If I didn’t...well, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

“True enough, but won’t the demon lord move in even if you’re the one to put him under?” Bell asked.

I considered what she said, and I nodded, “You’re not wrong, if I take Milford down, then the other Demon Lord, whose name I should learn, is probably going to try to move in...but…but…” I sighed, “If I can, I’ll try to bargain with some of the human authorities to up the pressure on him, using the Sea Princess as a bargaining chip.”

Bell’s eyes widened, “You mean to say that-”

I held up my hand, “And if I did have the Sea Princess in my grasp, I would, in fact, plan on returning her to her family. The Sea King would be in my debt, after all. I just need the Humans to keep the other Lord distracted, that’s all. Sides, hopefully it won’t even come to that. With the Sea Princess freed, the Humans have no reason not to force their navy on the Demon Lord.”

“You’ve thought this through.” Bell noted, and I smiled in return.

“Just bits and pieces.” I replied.

“Hm, that reminds me, have you visited the coopers yet?”

“...I don’t think I need to visit any blacksmiths.” I replied, a little confused by Bell’s question. Coopers? I wasn’t aware that Andros had any sort of craftsman who specialized in that sort of thing.

“No.” Bell shook her head, “I mean the cops.”

“Oh. OH.” I blinked, realizing at last what Bell was getting at, “....Wait, you guys have actual police?”

Huh, what a shock.

#devil's advocate #my work #original #Maleah Sakall #Fantasy #Web Novel

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