Chapter 6 (10): Audience, part 1
We did more to get his story to fit with ours, then had the headmistress set up the audience. Surprisingly, it was made to be the next morning, so we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for it, not that we needed to do so much. When the headmistress, my roommates, and I got there, we were greeted by the sight of a long hall lined with guards and mages, and at the other end, a man sitting on a throne with three others flanking him. One was Mae's father, the second was a priest, the third I recognized from... somewhere... Ah, he was the royal court magician who fainted when he learned of my having every element, that guy. Right.
"Greetings. I am the king, known as Jonathan the third. I heard little about who wanted to meet me or why they did, so I would like to skip the formalities to learn about that as the first thing" (King)
"Very well. To start, this is Mae Austine, daughter of the captain of the royal guard who is standing next to you. After that, we have Charlotte von Ascham, third daughter of Duke Ascham, and Elise, a high elf from the demon lands. All three of them, as well as the fourth, are students in my school, as well as roommates and *ahem* lovers, sadly. The reason for coming has to do with said fourth student" (HM)
"I shall return your greetings as I introduce myself. My name is Miryuu Maou, daughter of the late Diablo Maou, and thus the current Demon Lord" (Ryuu)
As I spoke, the guards drew their swords halfway, and the mages readied their magic, as the king looked shocked.
"For what reason would the Demon Lord come to my castle of her own volition? I should think you should be hiding yourself while preparing to invade my lands, not coming to warn me of your existence yourself" (King)
"Because I have no plans to invade this country. I don't seek revenge for what happened, but change. To that end, I snuck over the border so I could learn about the thinking of the people here, as well as have some fun as an adventurer" (Ryuu)
"I see. So, basically, this visit is to apologize for having a foreign leader move about my lands without my knowledge? That's fine, I guess. However, this was more than you needed to do, I think" (King)
"There was another reason for this visit, that reason being to introduce you to someone as important as myself, so far as most of the world is concerned" (Ryuu)
"Your husband or something?" (King)
"No, Miss Greywood already mentioned that my roommates were my lovers, and ones I plan to marry at that. No, I'm referring to someone who you'll see... about now" (Ryuu)
With that, Ver materialized behind me, then shifted to her human form (with armor) as she stepped next to me. A mage panicked and released his spell, a large fireball aimed at me, but I blocked it with a barrier as if it was nothing.
"Greetings, human king. I am Verene, the eleventh divine beast and, technically, Ryuu's summoned beast, if you must know. I was hatched a greater wyvern, but changed into a divine beast as Ryuu raised me-" (Ver)
"Ryuu, I request that you hand this being over to the mage's guild for data collectio-" (Mage)
"Verene is her own person. She is not some artifact magical tool to be traded or sold. If she wants to go somewhere, I can't stop her, and I won't make her go where she doesn't" (Ryuu)
"Tamed beasts aren't people, they are just property. And as such, their owners are required to hand over the interesting and rare finds to the king by law. Therefore, han-" (Mage)
"Oh? That's interesting... do you mean that a person who isn't a citizen of your country, but is instead a citizen of, or even the ruler of, another country, is required to abide by laws about taxation of your own citizens? That's basically what your statement amounted to, and seems strange to me. If that was the case, I would like to request that your own soldiers, the ones who stepped foot into the demon lands, hand over their weapons and magical items to me, as there are laws in the demon lands stating that you must pay a tax when you buy or bring in weapons and magical items, or have said items confiscated if you do not do so..." (Ryuu)
The king, as well as the old mage next to him, looked surprised and a bit worried as I continued.
"As they didn't, those items rightfully belong to my country, no? Or perhaps you'd like to rescind your prior request for me to abide by your own country's special tax laws. I seem to recall that there were plenty of national treasures used in the war, so I would assume you may wish to think about it again. In addition... I'd rather you not try to treat my lover, a person I plan to marry, as an object with no will of her own..." (Ryuu)
My voice became icy for a moment at the end, but then my voice brightened like that had never happened.
"Anyways, I know it's common courtesy to inform the leaders of other nations when you enter their country and to do so in person, which I have now done. Informing you of the fact that Ver is a divine beast was also the right thing to do, and I've done it as well. I don't know what else should happen in this meeting, so if you could inform me of that, that'd be nice. I've only been the Demon Lord for a few months, so I'm a bit ignorant in regards to politics and the related protocols. My father never got around to teaching me that, unfortunately, as he died before he could" (Ryuu)
"Uh... right... so, first off, I'd like to apologize for my idiot of a royal court magician. He should know better than to say what he said, so I would like your forgiveness. Know that his statement does not reflect the stance of me or my country, and that we have no intentions of treating Miss Verene as an object or anything like that. I, at least, recognize her as a person like any other. I would, however, wish to ask something... You, or rather, Miss Greywood, said that you four, and I'm assuming Ver as well based on your own statement, are lovers, correct? Considering that Gazef's daughter is among those listed, I would assume that he would have met you before. Gazef, I would like to know why you didn't inform me of Ryuu's existence if you did know" (King)
"At the time, I saw no reason to, as I didn't know about her being the Demon Lord. I knew of her as simply the half-elf girl from the demon lands my daughter was planning to marry, and little more than that" (Gazef)
"Ah, I see. I assume the same thing is true for Duke Ascham, correct?" (King)
"Actually, I've never met him thus far. I have no intention to have him know that I'm the Demon Lord, as I have heard about his hatred of the demons, and would rather he not be biased against me because of that" (Ryuu)
"That makes sense. I wouldn't want that were I in your shoes, so I will try to keep your name, as well as the name of your lovers and your occupations, out of the conversation when I talk to him and other nobles. Finally, Miss Greywood. I assume that you didn't inform us immediately because of the rule stating that you wouldn't disclose personal information on your students unless they were an active threat, correct?" (King)
"Yes, your majesty. As I found Ryuu to be a threat only to those who threaten her or those she cares about, I had no reason to report about her" (HM)
"Well, that's fine, I suppose. Ryuu, I would like to hear what your plans are for the time you stay in these lands, if you are willing to say" (King)
"My plans are to graduate from the adventurer's training school, and then go around helping people while having fun and earning money as an adventurer with those I care about. At some point in the not-too-distant future, I plan to marry, and later, to settle down, probably back in the demon lands, and raise a family. I would also like to build a good relationship between our two countries, but that means that I would need to deal with the problem of the radical faction that seeks to destroy the human lands. As it is, I can keep them in check, but I'll have to remove and replace them with those I trust before I could actively work on our relationship" (Ryuu)
The king seemed more interested in what I was saying than he had before, while there were some who seemed to be more guarded than before I mentioned the radical faction.
"Likewise, I think the church here needs to be dealt with somewhat... the lie that demons create and control magical beasts and make them attack the human lands is utter nonsense. Magical beasts breed like other living beings, and the ones without proper intelligence simply attack the areas with a large amount of mana in them, either where a lot of people gather, or where there are a few, really strong people. From what I've seen, the magical beasts are less of a problem here than in the demon lands. They are both weaker and less numerous, and more likely to kill one another than to attack towns and villages, compared to in the demon lands. Furthermore..." (Ryuu)
The priest, who seemed to be mad from the time I revealed my identity, became more and more angry as I spoke about the magical beasts, and then he snapped.