Chapter 6 (6): The guard, and an unexpected meeting
We obediently went with him to a building right across the street from the school, and then we were sat in a room with a crystal orb on the table between all of us, the man who brought us swapping out for a fat man who looked like he spent more time catching pastries than criminals.
"So, we'll ask you again... what was the reason for having a barrier up that was that strong, so often?" (Guard)
"I'll just go ahead and assume that orb is a lie detector, to start off with. So... It's something that would be better not said. It's more harmful, be it to the king, nobles, or the general public, if it's known than if it's not. Imagine something like if we were talking about the king having a deadly illness. If one person heard, they'd tell others, and soon enough, people would be panicking about that. Same thing for if I was talking about the Demon Lord roaming the streets of this city. If he or she has no plans to hurt anyone, and has no impact on the behavior of magical beasts, it'd be worse for people to think that they were there than to live their lives in ignorance of the Demon Lord's activities and even existence. This secret is like that one" (Ryuu)
"That may be, but I still need to know it. So... Spill it" (Guard)
"I believe that the headmistress - sorry, Elizabeth Greywood - has decided that it would, in fact, be something I shouldn't reveal, even to someone like a guard. You can just go a bit that way and ask her to reveal - or not, at her discretion - the main secret known to her student named Ryuu. There's another secret, actually, which also is under the category of 'things that she has said shouldn't be made public, not even to a governmental official' related to someone by the name of Verene, which you could also ask about. As the only thing we are guilty of is having some secrets that aren't in and of themselves criminal, you do not have the authority to force us to talk, and due to that, I am sure that she wouldn't wish for either of those two secrets to be revealed" (Ryuu)
His round face got redder and redder as I started to sound like I was the one interrogating him, until he snapped.
"Watch your mouth, halfblood bitch, or I'll make you regret taking that tone with me. I'll have you and your stupid friends know I'm the heir to a Count, so you should be more respectful. I think that a week in-" (Guard)
"I'll have you know I'm third in line to inherit the title of Duke" (Char)
"Meanwhile, I'm basically the equivalent in my own homeland, and the 'halfblood bitch' as you called her, outranks me and my father by a lot" (Tuare)
"And I'd like to point out that I'm Mae, of the Austine family... my father is your superior, by the way, as he's, you know, the captain of the royal guard and all that. What was that about Ryuu's friends, including myself and two people related to Dukes being stupid? And what was that about a week in... something?" (Mae)
"Please, do go and talk to our headmistress, who is also an SS rank adventurer, remember? No, seriously, talk to her. Ask her about who Verene is... She's more important than most of us, from the perspective of any area you might go to. I think there's only one part of the world where I'd outrank her in terms of importance" (Ryuu)
"What, she's a princess and you're some kind of shrine maiden? Tell a more believable lie" (Guard)
"If you think I or anyone here has said a single lie, you can check that magic tool there. Go on. I'll wait" (Ryuu)
He checked, and found that not a single lie had been uttered.
"This thing must be broken... You, halfblood bitch, tell me a lie. Say you're the Demon Lord or something that obviously can't be true" (Guard)
"If you insist... I'm a goddess, here to marry you... your name was asshole pig, right? Looks right" (Ryuu)
The ball flashed red when I said the first part, but it turned green when I said that name looked right.
"Figures... this halfblood bitch must be magi-" (Guard)
Mae's sword suddenly was resting on his chin, and she spoke with an icy tone of voice with hatred on her face.
"And that's the third time you've said that. I'll have to remind you that discrimination based on race is illegal, and that those who are in positions of authority using discrimination as part of their method to keep and/or enforce said authority are subject to demotions, and in some cases, life as a criminal slave. Considering that you were repeatedly insulting someone for being a halfblood in the presence of a halfblooded noble and a halfblood who is also the daughter of your superior, I think becoming a criminal slave wouldn't be uncommon... were you a commoner. As a noble, you'll probably just get off by being disowned. Fortunately, we don't have the son of the Demon Lord or a demon general here, or you might be subject to an execution for insult to foreign leaders. Well, I guess that, due to the pressure of the church, the demons and the Demon Lord are recognized as monsters, so the leadership of the demon lands aren't recognized as foreign leaders here. Oh, speaking of monsters... You did make an SS ranked monster mad by insulting the one who tamed her, as well as some of her other friends. Elise is the only one here who isn't a halfblood, besides yourself" (Mae)
"Mae, put your sword away... please... I was tempted to rip this guy's head off, or at least rip his tongue out, but that would cause some problems, as we are technically under investigation by the guards" (Ryuu)
"Yeah... put your sword away, little bitch. Even if you do, you're still going to get punished for drawing your weap-" (Guard)
"No, she's not. I heard more than enough. Get up, take off your uniform. You have been relieved from duty and will be subject to an investigation for repeated misconduct, as well as three counts of breaking major regulations and two counts of gross disrespect towards nobility" (Tall man in an impressive uniform)
The man, as well as the headmistress next to him, had been standing behind him since around the time when he had told me to watch my mouth, and the man who only then saw them blanched before he stood up extremely quickly.
"Mae, I would like to ask that you rein in your temper a bit... though, you were quite correct in your statement of what his crimes were and the usual punishment would be, and you did phrase it as a reminder, so you technically weren't trying to impersonate a member of the guard or anything like that, however, unsheathing your sword was going a bit too far" (Man)
"Sorry... dad... Anyways, it's been a while, hasn't it? It's good to see you again, though the circumstances in which we are doing so are... less than desirable" (Mae)
"Well, technically, he did threaten us while giving us cause to believe that he could and would follow through on said threats, and he was also breaking the law. In addition, you could also take her actions as performing the duties of a guard to two members of the aristocracy of another country" (Ryuu)
"Huh?" (Ex-guard and Mae's father)
"Ugghh... Gaz, get that idiot out of here and then we'll have a bit of a chat. So... from what I heard, you girls were only brought here due to concerns that you were hiding something big due to all of the barriers that you were putting up, so this incident? This idiot's actions have an incredible disparity when compared to that reason, and I won't punish you for getting tangled up with the guard because of the minor reason and the aforementioned idiot's aforementioned actions" (HM)
"Yeah... thanks for that... seriously, it's hard to talk about home or our childhoods in public without a barrier, when half of us have or had ties to the higher-ups in the demon lands" (Ryuu)
Just then, Mae's father walked back into the room, passing through the soundproof barrier at the entrance.
"You know... as the captain of the royal guard, I can't really stand by when I hear that two or three people in a group have ties to the demon generals or the Demon Lord, and ones that weren't disclosed to the king at that... however, I'll hear you out first, as a favor to the friends of my daughter" (Mae's father)
"Well, let's start with some introductions. First, my name is Miryuu Maou, the current Demon Lord. Next, we have the active B rank adventurer Ninya, whose real name is Tuareninya Lars, heir to the first seat of the demon generals, and one member of my harem, if we're going for full disclosure. After that, we have Elise, who was the former fiancee of the heir to the third seat of the demon generals, before he met his untimely demise, then Charlotte von Ascham, third in line to the Ascham dukedom. Both are also... actually, save for the two of you, everyone here is a member of my harem" (Ryuu)
"And that includes me... I hope you don't mind the sudden reveal that, not only am I into girls, but also in a romantic relationship with the Demon Lord, and may well end up marrying her" (Mae)
"You know, the thing that I'm most saddened by or otherwise uncomfortable with is the fact that I probably won't have grandchildren. I can deal with the fact that my daughter is in love with a girl. I can accept her judgement in regards to the Demon Lord being a good person, and her falling in love with her. As it seems like she'd prefer it if I didn't talk to anyone about Ryuu being the Demon Lord, I will stay quiet, and I'll pretend this conversation never happened if it does come up later. I'm even fine with Mae being part of a harem, if she's fine with it... but... I just... I would have liked to have some grandchildren" (Mae's father)
"Well... being the Demon Lord does give me the ability to change my body to some degree, and the Demon Lord before my father was a female who got another female pregnant, so it's possible. Not for anytime soon, I think, but it's not improbable that you'd have grandchildren in the future" (Ryuu)
"You know, I think I'm going to need a drink later... what next?" (Mae's father)
"Well... there's one more member of my harem... I... I think you're going to need to sit down for this one" (Ryuu)
"What, did you rope in the third princess or something?" (Mae's father, taking a seat)
"It's more surprising than that... much more" (Ryuu)
"No... you didn't. YOU DID NOT" (HM)
"I... kinda did... Ver?" (Ryuu)
Ver appeared in wyvern form along the back wall, before she shifted into her human form and put on the same shirt she's been wearing for a while. Now that I think about it, we still need to get her an actual set of clothes... or three.
"My name is Verene, but most call me Ver. I may look like a young human girl, but as you just saw, I'm not. I'm the eleventh divine beast, one who evolved from a greater wyvern, and also one who was tamed by Ryuu... though, it was less tamed and more like raised from the moment I hatched... anyways, I hope to be one of Ryuu's wives in the future, and to bear her children" (Ver)
"Ryuu... she's barely a month old... I..." (HM)
"Based on how developed this form is, and the fact that it does reflect my development in my wyvern form, I can assure you that I'd be legally able to marry and have children in the demon lands, at the very least" (Ver)
"That's... not... the point... but... you know what, I give up. I'm done. I'm done! Trying to think about what happens around you through the lens of common sense, or worse, trying to make you conform to our common sense, is like trying to teach an onion to fly! I wouldn't be entirely surprised if you wanted to add me to your harem at some point" (HM)
Midway through her speech, she broke down and started to laugh hysterically, her voice rising half an octave or more.
"Uh... the way you said that could imply that you wouldn't be entirely opposed to the idea, you know..." (Char)
"I know! Ryuu makes me challenge everything I thought I knew. Demon Lords are haughty? Nope. Twenty thousand mana is something only seen in legends? NOPE! Splitting the dorms by gender effectively eliminates the sexual relationships between students? IT JUST FACILITATED THE CREATION OF A HAREM!!! At some point, she's going to make me wonder about my own sexual preferences, I just know it!" (HM)
"Well... this is a first... I've never heard about Elizabeth Greywood having anything close to a mental breakdown, not even an emotional outburst" (Mae's father)
"Wh-When it comes to Ryuu... you... you should just forget everything you thought you always knew!" (HM)
We talked for a while longer, and eventually, we went back to our room, Tuare changing back to her adventurer's clothing before she went to the inn her party was staying at. The next weekend, I went with Ver to an armor shop to see if they had some light armor that was enchanted so it could handle her changing shapes, and I eventually ordered a set that would be done in five days. A week after I ordered it, I'd picked it up, had Ver try it on, and it looked like she was nothing more than a very busty fifteen year old wearing nothing but a set of ordinary, albeit skintight, leather armor (which was somewhat more revealing than I'd like her to be walking around in) when in her human form. It could change into an ordinary-looking bracelet when she didn't want to be wearing it.