In between Rentolt and the Demon Side existed a forest. The forest acted as a barrier between the two lands, but within it an even greater secret resided. Built near the ruins of an old fortress a town where both humans and demons lived in harmony was forged. The previous Demon Lord and the current Queen of Rentolt came to understanding and a secret alliance was formed. There had been some bumps and problems. Old grudges were hard to wear down but before long the two people began to see eye to eye. They were the example that would change our world.
From the ruins of the Mil Kingdom we travelled North for two days. We'd arrive tomorrow afternoon but there was one thing I had to do now. I excused myself from the Heroes and headed away from our campsite. It honestly took a lot of convincing and Sayuri almost didn't let me but after saying it was to prepare for their arrival they let it slide. Once I was far enough away that I wouldn't be felt I began to draw a circuit into the grass. With a flash the world began to shift and turn until the scenery around me settled down. Where once I had been in a small clearing surrounded by trees I was now in a large wooden cupboard.
I stepped out with a stretch into the dim lighting of the late evening. Now to get to work. I spread out my mana to find a certain friend. It didn't take long to find him. He was doing some paper work in his office, diligent as usual. I teleported just above him and grabbed him in a friendly embrace,
"Marker! What's up?"
"F-First?" he lost balance and fell out of his chair. "What are you doing here? Gilda told me you were playing Hero."
"Can't I visit my good old friend?" I laughed.
"I'd prefer if you told me beforehand," he sighed and then finally smiled. "What do you need?"
I got off him, "I need you to round up all the villagers. I have an important announcement to make."
"Can it wait till tomorrow? It's quite late."
"Nope it's now or never!"
"Fine," he sighed again but prepared himself. His tail swang side to side as he walked. I followed him upstairs and to the balcony that overlooked the town centre. Next to the balcony attached to the side of the house was a large bell. With a strong tug, Marker pulled it. A powerful but friendly ring came out and within seconds people had already began to fill the town centre. It was interesting as always to see the strange assortment of people. Horns, scales, large, small, wings, tails, long ears, short ears, humans and demons of all kinds.
"Okay that's about everyone," Marker said and then focused to the crowd. "Sorry for disturbing you at this late hour but we have a certain annoying guest who demands your attention."
"Ow, Marker that hurts," I joked and then swung my feet over the railing and sat down. "Hello everybody it's been quite some time."
"Greetings to our Lord," they bowed in relative unison including the humans. I stared into the crowd.
"Hey where's Gilby?" I asked.
The crowd turned their heads until someone called out, "He's sleeping."
I laughed, "Wake the lazy bum up." There was a bustle of movement and from the back street a human lady pulled out a large dragonkin man. One of the reasons why I noticed he was missing because of how easily he was to spot in a crowd.
"I'm here, I get it stop pulling," he mumbled tiredly but then saw me, "Ah! Greetings to our Lord." He bowed.
"Hmmm anyone else missing," I gave the town another scan. It should be fine now. "Okay important announcement! Tomorrow the Heroes will be visiting."
"What!?" Marker spat behind me.
The townsfolk were all bustling, "What should we do? Are we welcoming them?"
"It's fine just be yourselves, they won't introduce themselves as Heroes, besides I'll be with them." There was not a small amount of confusion. "This is all top secret so don't tell anyone, I'm especially talking to you kids," I sent a light hearted glare to the group of children. They screamed happily and scurried away. "Since their summoning I have been masquerading as one of the Heroes. In other words they have no idea I'm the Demon Lord." They began to get loud again but Marker stepped forward,
"Hey calm down and listen."
"Thank you Marker. The Heroes wanted to see this town so I'm taking them here. They found out I'm a demon but don't know much else." I could feel Marker glaring at me. "Uh, anyway so tomorrow no one is to call me Lord, First, Davarious or Varry but instead call me Davios. Do you understand?" There were some awkward nods. Eh, good enough. "See you tomorrow then. Have a good night."
I retreated back to the balcony.
"You…." Marker glared at me.
"Okay then I'm off. I'll leave it to you to figure out the finer details."
"Hang on one sec, do you really think this is all going to work?" Marker grabbed me.
"Hmmm yeah sure why not? Everyone here is pretty good at keeping secrets."
"There's a plaque here that says this town was founded by the Demon Lord. You can't just hide things like that!"
"Yeah you can, just put a box over it."
"Do you understand how much work this will take me?"
"Probably not but I believe in you."
"Your belief is not what I need or want for that matter!"
I sighed, "Remember the days you used to follow me unconditionally? What happened?"
"I grew up and realised you were a major pain."
I scuffled his fluffy ears, "Don't say that buddy."
"Argh whatever I'll figure it out, just make sure you don't do anything stupid. I don't want any damage to the town." He let me go.
"You're just stressed because you haven't seen Gilda in a while."
"Just go already…."
Aside: During the journey.
Carl:
So it turns out Dave's a demon…. Honestly I still can't wrap my head around it. Demons and Humans, there really wasn't much difference aside from our appearances. Up until yesterday I thought 100% that Dave was a human and I would have yelled at anyone who thought otherwise but now… it was quite obvious that we were all wrong.
"Ahh, this is nice," Dave let out relaxed as he sank into the hot spring. We had randomly stumbled past it on the way to Dave's home and decided to spend the night here. Unlike before he did nothing to hide his other non-human features because he said it was a 'bother'. Now his slightly pointed ears, light blue roots and golden heart stone were just flaunting themselves.
"Carl I get it's a bit weird to see but stop staring at Dave, it's weird," Gary entered the water beside me.
"Sorry I'm still not used to it," I replied.
He laughed, "Neither, but it's not like we can do anything about it." Gary was right, well mostly. We could abandon him and travel separately but we'd all grown closer and reliant on each other, Dave especially.
I enjoyed the warm water and let myself just relax. The tension from the long ride was slowly evaporating. One of the things I was glad for was Dave's cloud. It travelled just as fast as any car and could fly over forests not bound to any roads. Just imagining if we had to ride in a bumpy carriage instead made me feel sick. Alicia would have been worse off as well. She already got sick enough from riding the cloud. Also it would have taken us far longer to get anywhere. Dave really was the lynchpin to our team.
I looked to Dave but found that his eyes were closed and light breaths were all I could hear. He had fallen asleep. It wasn't good to fall asleep in a bath but I left him alone. He had been strangely more tired since yesterday, probably from using his trump card.
"Gary," I whispered.
"Yeah?" Gary waded over quietly, also noticing Dave's state.
"How do you feel about Dave?"
"Well, he's a handsome bloke but you can have him. I like girls anyway."
I sent him a serious glare.
"I'm joking jeez. I'm guessing you mean specifically the demon thing. Hmmmm," he pondered for a while and made sure Dave was really napping. "Honestly it freaked me out. I know I said it changed nothing and it really hasn't but… all this time, the people we thought were the enemy, one was right next to us. It really puts things into perspective. He could have killed us or let us die so many times."
"I know what you mean," I let out a troubled smile. "In Elsbeth we had all those stories about demons fed to us, but now I think about it, it was Dave who always told us to keep an open mind."
"And when he got super mad at the slave auction."
"Yeah that one makes more sense now."
"But I never thought we was a demon."
"Neither."
Gary let out a smirk, "Look at him now though, he trusts us way too much. We could lynch him and he wouldn't have a clue."
I let out a dry laugh, "Nah, even sleeping he probably has barriers set up just in case. The only one who could bypass them might be Sayuri."
"True, maybe we should call her over."
"Okay let's stop. I'd rather not plan out my friend's death," I rose out of the water with a stretch.
"He can be annoying and a pain but he's still our friend," Gary waved his hand a splash of water flew into Dave's face. He immediately snapped awake and spluttered the water off.
"What was that for?" he asked peeved.
"Don't sleep in the bath, you'll drown," I replied with a smile. Demon or not he was still Dave. It wasn't like all demons were evil anyway. Our only true enemy was the Demon Lord and he was far away.
Alicia:
Sayuri and I were relaxing in a random hot spring we happened to pass. Once she saw it Sayuri had insisted we spend the night here. The boys were in a different pool quite far from us. Not that we had anything to fear from peeping. Dave was too noble, Gary wouldn't dare with me here and Carl, well I wouldn't mind it if it were just me but Sayuri was here as well.
"Hey Sayuri," I poked her in the cheek and she stirred out of her blissful state. "I need to let some stuff out."
"About what?" she asked sweetly.
"About Dave," I replied seriously.
Her mood darkened considerably and she half submerged her head, "You mean about yesterday?"
"He's a demon…, I don't know how I really feel about that. Yeah, we met those kids a while back but… inside I've always been preparing myself to fight them," I let out a sad sigh. "What do you think?"
"I… I think that everyone is different. If we have to fight I will but if I don't, I won't," her expression was complicated. "Dave is a demon... just saying it doesn't feel right but he's always been on our side right?"
"Of course he has," I grinned to cheer her up. "I can't think of a reason why he'd pretend to be our friend otherwise."
"But it still scares me, this entire time the thing we were told were our enemy was next to us. Dave was the one who told us to keep an open mind but isn't that because he's one of them? What if it's all been a trick…."
"Sayuri calm down," I gently rubbed her head. "That's the reason you asked to see where he grew up right? Just because we're humans doesn't mean we're always right."
"Alicia you're pretty good at comforting people," she smiled.
"Please, I've been an older sister all my life." I let out a sneaky smile, "Besides the only reason you're so confused is because you don't know whether to still 'like' him right?"
She pushed me back annoyed but flustered, "It's not like that okay!"
"Sure it isn't," I continued to tease and let the water wash away our doubts.
Davarious First Born Light of the Autumn Wind:
Although my body was sleeping my spirit was paying attention to everything around me and I heard it all. The Heroes concerns, their distrust and their trust. I was just thankful they were willing to be open minded. There were other times when the Demon Lord had pretended to be human and when his or her identity was exposed they were chased out. Though those time however the Demon Lord didn't have as innocent intentions as me. Still… I'd have to make this visit special. The town we made was the culmination of my family's hard work, to prove demons and humans could coexist in harmony. At first I was stumped on how to handle Sayuri's request but this really could be the deciding factor to win them over. The only thing I had to worry about was my true identity. The Heroes weren't quite ready for that one mostly due to my own fault.
A splash of water hit me in the face and I spluttered awake, "What was that for?" I asked annoyed.
Aside End: