I start to reminisce about a time that seems to have been forever ago. Back to a different time that started when Ghost left for the final time.
"Who should become the next demon king to rule over the demon realm again? The last demon king might have not been the best king, but he was certainly one of the strongest back in his heyday."
Liz starts to a council to decide the next king because she is one of the oldest demons in existence. She's been alive for so long most people aren't even sure of her race anymore.
My dad is the next person to speak because he 'helped' get rid of the demon who called himself the hero, as people are already calling him.
"Well, why don't we decide it based of off contribution to the country? My family has contributed a lot thanks to this incident. Even my daughter's dreams were crushed when she had to tell me about his deeds. He was her only friend and yet crushed her so much."
At the time I was too young to realize it but this was the first time my father's greed started to show from his fake generosity.
"Hmph, what right do you a have as an incubus to vie for the throne." A big minotaur who was the king's military advisor calls out.
When the king was still alive he always proclaimed war and was one of the heaviest supporters for the war against the halflings. He also is a bit of a racist against half people.
"Now, now let's not bring race into the equation. We aren't petty humans who believe that just because you were born a certain color your a slave and just because you were born in a certain household your someone better than ninety-nine percent of the population."
"We care about strength and only strength. Which is why we didn't care much about the hero being a human. So, I think we should decide who is king based on strength"
"I'm fine with that as well. It still means that you shouldn't be greedy for the throne you weakling. Your one of the weakest demons in our kingdom without even counting nobility. The only reason why you could barely become a noble was that you married a talented succubus who's one of our strongest magicians!"
The minotaur stares at my father with disdain as he slowly but consistently destroyed my father's useless pride. Now that I look back at it maybe it was because my father was so much weaker compared to my mother that things happened the way it did.
"Well if my husband can't become king because he is too weak then what about me becoming Queen? He can be my king while I'll be known as the Demon Queen will that make you happy. After all, I'm the strongest person in the kingdom if you don't count Liz and the halflings patron who both can't be our ruler!"
My mom speaks up even though she doesn't want to be the queen. Trying to help her dear husband get what he wants out of the sheer love she felt for him. Not knowing the severe consequences that happened because of it.
"Fine, I admit that your wife is much stronger than me and everyone else, but will you accept the position by hiding behind a woman!"
The minotaur makes his last stance to try to make my dad step back because he is the second strongest person in the country and would be the king if my mother wasn't around.
"If my wife wants to be the queen then it's my job as her husband to accept the ridicule of everyone else and become the king." At the time I couldn't help but believe my father was doing it for the good of the family and that he was swallowing his pride
That it wouldn't control him and that his weakness wouldn't harm our dying country. When I looked at my mom, on the other hand, she had a wry smile on her face that I didn't understand at the time.
A year goes by as I train hard to increase my strength in using magic to make my mom and dad proud while trying to forget about Ghost and my promise to him, as my mom told me to. While I was focusing on training I didn't even notice the tension that sprung in the new royal family.
I didn't notice how after only being a year most people only mentioned the Demon King instead Demon Queen and King. More importantly, my mother was actual ruler so it should have been Demon Queen.
I also didn't notice the hidden hate in my father's eyes whenever I showed off my talents in magic. The only thing I did notice was the joy that always appeared in my depressed mother's eyes whenever I showed her new magic.
I continued to take Ghost's advice and train in the other elements even though they were much slower than fire and water.
I sometimes snuck outside and showed off in front of the citizens and let them call me the Demon Princess while feeling pride in the new title that my mom and dad gained for me.
The only problem with my current life, at the time, was that I had no one my age around me. So it led me to remember my time with Ghost more and more.
This led me to think about my previous promise and the three wishes I would gain if I did so. I couldn't help but blush at the thought of asking for three things to him after intruding onto his world. Some days I pondered over funny and weird things I'd make him do if he fulfilled our promise.
It led me to start to study the magic circle in the middle of the previous throne room. My mother wasn't that happy about me trying to keep my promise, but I quickly figured an excuse that I was studying it to help my magic not to leave them.
At the time I really wasn't that inclined in leaving to an unknown world even though I still thought he knew what I actually looked like.
Sadly the hidden tension in my family finally exploded one day. My dad couldn't keep up hiding his greed and his year of planning finally started to show itself in a loud argument with my mom.
That I probably shouldn't have been secretly listening in to, but sadly I was trying to surprise my mom by hiding somewhere and then show off a new spell learned.
"Honey, I'm curious why you aren't getting pregnant no matter how many times we try. Are you secretly against us having a male heir for the throne or are you not able to have another child?"
My father's voice echoed out in the small hiding place that I found, while I at the time was curious about the words heir and a baby brother to play with.
"How could you believe that I don't want another child with you dear. Alicia is the most precious thing in my life right now! As her mother how couldn't I see how lonely she is right now and that a sibling for her will help immensely."
My mom seemed hesitant to tell dad why she couldn't get a child at the time, while I was still a bit too young to understand what they were implying. "It's just that it's rare for stronger people to give birth, it's like a natural law that is here for everyone who gets to a certain strength."
"So you saying that because I'm weak you can't give birth to my inferior child! I knew you always looked down on me because I can't train and was only with me because of your dad's promise to my mother."
Dad sounds noticeably hurt and angry, while his voice gets louder and louder. It was probably loud enough for me to hear even if I wasn't hiding nearby.
"Calm down dear it's not because your too weak it's become I'm too strong. Even if I tried with someone of equal strength as me it would actually turn even harder. It was a miracle that we had our little darling Alicia when we did."
My mother seems to finely fed up with the sexist attitude of father and for once in their marriage is actually getting mad at him. My father, on the other hand, seems to also be tired of lying to us and is actually throwing away his Mr perfect mask.
"Also why do you want a male heir it doesn't matter what gender your child is as long as their strong look at Alicia who is slowly growing as strong as her mom." My mom slowly starts to get angrier about the thought that she wasn't with my dad because she loved him.
She also told me later on that she was shocked that he even thought that way. That she truly loved my dad and my grandfather was actually severely against her marrying him, because of his lack of training.
She told me that after leaving her family for my father she felt liberated and free. I might have hoped for the same thing after I left for Earth, but I didn't feel liberated or free just uncertain about what life will be like.
Maybe my life will get better than just simply leaving the country or maybe it will get worse and I'll be unwanted. Anyways let's get back to the argument.
"Are you sure that the demon country really respects power over gender? Aren't we living proof that it was all a sham and it's in our very nature to want a male leader."
"Look at what happened in only a year! YOUR THE QUEEN YET EVERYONE CARES ABOUT ME THE KING. If you can't give us a male heir to continue MY legacy then as the demon king I'll host a contest to accept a concubine!"
My mom was never the same after that day. Everything about our family that was good was over and everything bad about our family that I never noticed started to show it's ugly head.
After the argument was over my dad started the contest for his precious concubine, but in reality with the way it went it didn't seem like a contest. There was only one girl who won every so-called competition as if it was predetermined that she would be winner.
Later on, my mother told me that the women who I know had to call mother was her rival in the past. She lost because my dad's mom wanted someone who could protect her dear son and she was like my dad a weakling who didn't want to train.
Maybe she was my dad's true love, while his hate for my mom being strong originated by his mom's insistence that he married someone who could protect him. My mom on the hand probably truly thought that he liked her more than my other mother.
After she and he got married she got pregnant much faster than she probably should've. Looking back on it maybe she was already in her first month of pregnancy before they even got married.
My dad, on the other hand, told my mom that it was heavens divine will that he accepted another wife and that she became pregnant during their honeymoon.
The child she was pregnant with turned out to be a male heir just like my father wanted. At first, I was excited that I had a sibling, but it only took a couple weeks for me to realize that my new step-mom didn't like me near my half-brother.
Even though I really liked my cute new brother with his fox ears that took after his mother's race and cute golden eyes.
The weeks felt like they slowed down to crawl as my father slowly spent less and less time with me. Making excuses such as the work of our kingdom has increased, so I can't spend any time with you and your mom.
As he isn't even trying to keep it a secret that he still spends plenty of time with his new son and wife.
Sometimes I didn't get to see my dad in a week, but it got worse as time slowly crept on by. Eventually, I only got to see him once a month. My brother, on the other hand, was growing up to be a spoiled brat by his parents.
When he turned three and was revealed to have talent in magic my dad said he didn't have to learn if he didn't want to. So he being a little kid at the time, of course, didn't want to and he didn't.
I, on the other hand, lived a life of solitude with my mom. Somedays I felt like my mom wasn't the main wife but a maid that wasn't supposed to have a child from their one-night stand.
My magic slowly started to halt at the barrier between B class and A class. My mom encouraged me that she was only at the peak of A, so I shouldn't worry too much about breaking through.
Instead, I should go outside and find someone for myself before my father starts to think of arranging my marriage.
"But mom I don't want to marry anyone. Look at what happened to you because you ended up marrying the wrong man! It's much better for me to just spend the rest of life pursuing magic like Liz!"
While speaking of granny Liz I couldn't help but remember the only other child I knew from my childhood Ghost. I also couldn't help but wonder how much stronger he grew after all these years as I at the time was barely a peak B, while the power Ghost revealed was definite AA if not S.
"She is already an S class mage and has been alive for so long that most of the people of her generation are already dead. Also look at the so-called man that you love as he is visibly growing older while your time seems to have stopped."
I make the argument that I've figured out after so long of watching my mom be tortured. Strength is the only thing that matters relationships are just holding her back.
"What about your old friend Ghost? Didn't you make a promise all those years ago go and visit him? Do you not believe that your friendship with him was genuine?"
My mom once again reminded me of a little idiot who slowly had to grow up because of my terrible world and people. I couldn't help but smile as an I remembered the times we spent with each other while frowning at the thought of more people tricking him after he returns.
I kinda wanted to go to him and protect that innocence he had, but there's was another part of me that realizes he probably doesn't have that innocence anymore.
After I realized he must have also grown up thanks to the cruel reality. I couldn't help but wonder if he is able to understand how empty I know feel.
"Okay, mom if you don't mind me leaving. I'll go back to studying the circle and opening a portal for me to leave. Maybe dad will stop mistreating you if I'm not part of his world anymore. Maybe his inferiority complex is kicking in again and he thinks I'll use my strength to steal the throne from his son after he passed it onto him."
Months go by when I secluded myself into purely studying the circle as more and more hidden things crop up from it. Back then I wondered more and more why this appeared in front of the former king and why it dragged Ghost into the hell that he lived through.
As I look into the magic that was used and the cause and effect of it. For instance by activating this formation the creator of it has the right to drag away one resident of the world as a sacrifice.
The sacrifice has to be equal or weaker than the value of the person being summoned. So for instance, if I was a member of his world who was summoned they could bring at most a B rank from my world.
Sadly the more I looked into the formation the more I felt like it was all a hidden plot that I could not understand. More and more seemingly useless additions keep appearing in its magic code.
The thing that caused my heart drop was that there was an illusion spell added on to it. That's the only job is to change how the summons sees and hears the residences. He probably didn't even know that he was helping demons and thought we were all human.
This caused all my research to halt and wonder if it would be correct to go to his world. So I went outside to talk to my mom about it. What shocked me was how much the city and everything changed after I left isolation.
There were statues of my father all around the city and a couple of statues of him and his new wife and son. But, there was none of me and my mom. Everyone also was looking at my very strangely as if I was an existence that shouldn't have been there.
I rushed back to my home to try and find my mom but the guards blocked the way. "Who goes there! Don't you know that is a forbidden ground where only the king, his son, and wife are allowed into."
"I'm his daughter let me in!" I scream out of anger that he didn't mention my mom or me at all. She is the first wife no matter how much my dad loves his concubine how could a meer guard forget about mentioning her.
"Men capture the daughter of the rebel!" To my shock, the guards actually went and charged at me. So me back then quickly muttered a wind spell that buffs mobility and ran at my fastest speed towards the only safe place I knew of.
Me back then quickly reached Liz's home who probably would've protected me because of my previous friendship with Ghost. After I knock on her door I hear, "come on in Alicia I've been waiting for you to come."
I entered into her tiny house for the first time seeing all the treasured magic books just laying on the ground hurting my fragile heart. Suddenly I hear my father's voice echo out towards the hut.
"Come on out my daughter. Your my child so no one can protect you from the arranged marriage I've set out for you! Don't worry you're destined to marry a future king. My son wants to marry you even though you're the daughter of a cheating whore!"
"Arthur can you just shut up and leave. You've already destroyed your previous marriage and now you want your daughter to hate you as well."
"You're just asking for one of them to kill your weak royal family. It was bad enough that you kicked out the only A class member of your family, but you don't even want to train your son and instead are creating excuses for his lazy self."
"Liz doesn't make me use my royal authority to send the army to capture your heretic mouth!"
'You can try, but none of the members of the army will listen to you after you got rid of their general. You really think a country can exist without having an S rank existence? If you don't then why are you getting rid of all of them? I can destroy your so-called army with one spell, so WHY WOULD THEY DARE ATTACK ME."
I couldn't help but be shocked by the turn of events that happened after I left. My own father wanted me to marry his son, my own brother! I couldn't help but wonder if it would be better to bet on Ghost's kind heart.
"Don't worry child. I know what you're worried about and I know that Ghost won't let you down. I already looked at most of the spell formation after it appeared at the request of the former king."
"You really think he won't mind me being a succubus instead of a human?"
"Definitely! Tell him if he looks down on you because you're not human then he would have to hate his adopted grandma and master! Both of us aren't humans either his master is a full elf, while I am also a succubus just like you. Who knows your family line might have me being your ancestor back when I was frisky."
While laughing at the thought of Ghost's adopted grandma being my ancestor. I suddenly realize that I've never asked her an important question. "How is my mom and why is everyone calling her a rebel?"
*Sigh, your mom is really a person one should end up pitying. She left the clan to marry someone who could live only a tenth of the lifespan as her and what does he to do to her? He abandons her for a kitsune and goes out of his way to force her farther and farther away from him. She is currently with Ghost's master since your dad didn't fulfill his promise of equal rights for the halflings."
Liz starts to shake her head in regret while she was probably feeling more and more angry about not seeing through my dad's idiotic
brain.
"He thought that if he held up most of the halflings hostage and used them to threaten him that he would become his loyal slave. Sadly he just doesn't understand why every world has a different system of ranking yet the S ranks all mean the same thing. We aren't mortals anymore and we certainly can't be killed by an army of AA's much less a group of B's and C's."
"There is one thing that your mother wanted me to tell you." My ears perked up at the message from my always loving mother.
"Don't worry about her and finish the summoning circle there aren't many people you can trust here. The humans and elves won't accept us even if we left. I want to stay here and watch over the kingdom to at least lower the damages from my husband's mistakes. From now on you are only Alicia! It's okay if you abandon that useless father of yours."
Once, I cut off my father's last name from my existence I felt both free and empty. At that time I probably closed off my heart to everyone that wasn't already in it. So, I guess that's why Ghost means so much more to me now even though I hadn't seen him in forever. And when I saw him with that Ghost girl I couldn't help but feel a bit of killing intent at her.
After that day I went back to the castle to finish my project. Not wanting to waste any time I didn't think of studying the copy that was probably in a safer place.
One day I hit a bottleneck in the return portion of the spell. How to fool the maker of it into letting me in without harming Ghost. So, I started to explore the castle since I managed to reach A class in my magic already.
While exploring around in the former king's chambers under a random plank on the floor I found a journal. It was titled experiments on slaves for eternal youth and total obedience. The journal was filled with test results on earlier subjects who were supplied by some of the nobles I told Ghost about.
Knowing that I at least did a good job when we worked together made me feel a bit better. But as I went further down I saw something that caused my heart to freeze up permanently. The king's drug supplier was my dad and his family with some of my moms secret family drugs in between.
My dad was the leading scientist for new drugs to improve everything about the kidnapped girls way before he married my mom. One of the things the journal said was that he succeeded in seducing a key family's female heir into getting him important recipes for the project.
The more I read the more I just want to leave this cursed country. There are extensive details about what happened to poor Jana. But, I don't feel it is right for me to be the one to reveal what happened to her.
Being disgusted by the world I was living in and thinking that it would destroy my mom if she found out the truth. I decided that it was probably for the best for me to just activate the spell and leave.
Under all the bad things in this book, I learned about a way to even fool a god. So, I fiddled with it to add it into the magic code and then used it to transport away. Bright light coved my eyes and blinded me during the process of transportation.
When I opened my eyes an unfamiliar face appeared in front of me, but I felt a very familiar aura from him and knew that I succeeded in finding him just like I said I would. I also promised myself that if he was still the same old friend from back then that I'll stick by his side till we die.
Doge notes by doggo! So, Dog was originally planning on writing the entire torture scene of Jana in this side chapter. But the way Dog would have written it was from the king's point of view based off a day by day journal of what happened each important day of research. Dog felt like it wasn't a good portrayal of what happened. Dog will probably write it eventually, but under Jana's point of view instead.
Also, like you, all have noticed that these side chapters are still in the first person and our narrator isn't making any comments about anything. This is because these side chapters are stories being told by the protagonists at an unspecified time in the plot. This could be told to Ghost or even to Jana in the near future, but these events aren't something that the viewer has viewed which is why they are first person recounts of what happened.
The viewer just simply wrote down the story that they told each other. The reason why Dog is mentioning this now instead of during the first side chapter is obviously that it'd be a pretty large spoiler to reveal that Jana was still alive and well enough to tell someone her adventures and because the viewer could have been bored enough to watch part of that story which he did.
Finally, side chapters aren't going to be a common thing during this novel and will probably only exist to increase the depth of certain important characters like Alicia and Jana. They will not always be unimportant to plot, but any plot progression in a side chapter will eventually be revealed to Ghost who the viewer mostly follows.
Some chapters may not involve Ghost and still be considered main chapters but Dog still wants them to be semi-rare since Dog doesn't want to completely abandon Dogs roots of having it be Ghost's knowledge only. Of course, if you consider the romance to be the main plot than these side chapters might just help you form a ship to ride on.