The large double doors of the throne room burst open once again as General Bella entered the room. "Your Majesty! The heroes' army is approaching!" she shouted to the occupants of the room.
Among the occupants were the angry-looking Demon Queen Anna, the airhead mage Mira, and the unexpected salaryman/idol otaku Alex. Both Mira and Alex were surprised by the sudden entrance of the tall and imposing horned lady knight.
"Ah! General Bella!" Mira exclaimed in surprise.
"General Bella?" Alex echoed Mira's surprise, equally startled by her entrance. Though Alex had heard this lady knight shouting at them before when Mira was dragging him off like a human kite, this was the first time he could actually see her appearance... and he was awe-struck.
This lady knight, General Bella, was a striking figure of a woman. Her chocolate-colored face was beautiful, with sharp and fierce eyes befitting a warrior. Her straight, long white hair cascaded over her knight's armor, which said armor hugged her well-endowed figure. Atop her head sat a pair of huge and intimidating black horns, contrasting against her white hair. While she wore a full set of knight armor, what struck the most was the upper part of her torso armor; it was the 'open'-type, revealing the upper side of her astonishingly large breasts. Alex was staring hard at the General's assets. He couldn't help but be mesmerized by her massive bosom, and for a moment, he forgot about the scary demonic aura that the Demon Queen was still emitting.
General Bella noticed that Mira was already present, along with the human she had seen Mira running off with. The man was currently staring at her with an unusual intensity. For some reason, she felt slightly self-conscious under his gaze. However, she had no time to dwell on that. Instead, she redirected her attention to the Demon Queen, who was still emitting her intense demonic aura.
"*gasp* As expected! My Queen, you have already anticipated the heroes' invasion!" The General quickly approached them and then knelt with respect in front of the Demon Queen, who was still emitting the strong demonic aura. She had mistakenly thought that the Demon Queen Anna was already preparing herself to confront the heroes.
"... ... ..." Demon Queen Anna could only stare with a blank face at General Bella's oblivious show of admiration. She then stopped emitting her demonic aura, which confused General Bella a bit but was a huge relief for both Alex and Mira. After a short pause, the Demon Queen then spoke to General Bella, "... General Bella, what is the current situation of the heroes' invasion?" She inquired to the General.
"Yes, your majesty! The heroes have reached Penelope City! Reinforcements to help defend Penelope City and confront the heroes have already been sent, my queen!" General Bella reported to the Demon Queen.
Alex and Mira were shocked at what they were hearing, with Alex even more so upon hearing about the so-called 'heroes' invasion. He had never thought that the word 'hero' could be attached to 'invasion'.
"The heroes have already reached Penelope!? How is that possible, General Bella?!" Mira voiced her confusion to the General.
The General directed her attention to Mira, "We don't know for sure right now, but... early reports by our scouts had said that the hero Yulia was spotted before the invasion...!" The General said with a grim tone, informing everyone in the throne room.
"The hero Yulia!?" Mira exclaimed in fear.
"Yulia..." The Demon Queen muttered with a solemn tone.
"The hero Yulia...?" Alex was confused as to who this hero 'Yulia' was, but judging from the way these three demon girls were discussing said person, it seemed that the so-called hero Yulia was someone quite formidable, borderline dangerous even. Even the Demon Queen herself had taken this hero 'Yulia' quite seriously when she was already pretty powerful herself.
Sensing Alex's confusion, Mira quickly approached him and addressed him, "Oh yeah! I'm sorry, Sir Alex. You must have been confused as to what we are talking about here, given that you just got summoned here." She assured Alex. Meanwhile, General Bella continued her report to the Demon Queen.
"I mean, yeah, I guess?" Alex replied to Mira's concern, albeit awkwardly.
"Well, I'll briefly explain our situation, Sir Alex. As we have been discussing: enemy kingdoms and, by extension, the heroes have been constantly launching invasions into our territory," Mira explained to Alex.
"Hold on! Heroes, as in, THE Hero are launching 'invasions'?" Alex inquired of Mira about that specific part of her explanation.
"Yes, Sir Alex!" She confirmed, then realized something. "Ah! Maybe you are wondering about the definition of 'heroes', aren't you, Sir Alex? Well... to briefly sum it up, 'heroes' are powerful humans from your world that the other kingdoms of Terra have been summoning to fight on their behalf. When they are summoned to this world, they are bestowed with powerful Jobs and abilities befitting of a hero," Mira explained, somewhat missing the point of Sir Alex's confusion.
"For almost 200 years, the other kingdoms have been trying to usurp us and our territory, the Demon Kingdom. It's only thanks to our Demon Kings and Queens that we have managed to stand strong against the heroes' invasion, especially with our current Demon Queen, Demon Queen Anna Bael! She is said to be the strongest Demon Queen in history and has thwarted even the mightiest heroes till today!" she continued her explanation, ending it with gusto.
"U-uh, yeah, I guess...? But..." Alex was still confused and conflicted about this whole thing, even after Mira's explanation of the situation.
Alex mulled over the situation. He grasped, at least, that the demons were engaged in a war with the other non-demon kingdoms. These opposing kingdoms had been summoning heroes to combat the demons, a familiar theme in many fantasy genres. Typically, demons would be portrayed as invaders conquering humanity, prompting the summoning of heroes from another world to retaliate. The heroes would then embark on a journey to the demons' territory, seeking to vanquish them once and for all.
However,... Alex found himself now witnessing the conflict from the demons' perspective. From their viewpoint, it made sense why they also referred to it as an 'invasion'.
From his earlier interactions with them, even if they were short, they didn't leave him with the impression that they were... 'evil'. While Mira did indeed handle him roughly, she didn't appear to be malicious or intentionally abusive. She was just an airhead. She had been really helpful to him earlier, especially guiding and teaching him how to use his mana or Job Skills.
It made him wonder... were the demons in this world the 'good guys' or the 'bad guys'?
General Bella, after finishing her report to the Demon Queen, finally directed her attention to the human, Alex. "You... are you the hero that was summoned from the other world by our Demon Queen?" She asked him, though with a commanding tone.
"Ah! Y-yeah! I'm the 'hero' Alex! Nice to meet you," Alex answered the General, albeit nervously.
"What is your Job, Sir Alex?" She asked him again, with the same commanding tone as before.
"A-ah, yeah... my Job is, well, 'Idol Producer'...?" He answered again, but with a slight uncertainty.
"Idol Producer? What kind of Job is that?"
"Well... how do I explain it...?" He muttered at the end. He was scratching his head and had to think again about how to explain his Job properly. But, the General's stare was pretty intense and he was sweating pretty hard from it.
Sensing Alex's uneasiness, Mira quickly interjected to help him, "General Bella, Sir Alex's Job here is a support-type! His Job, the Idol Producer, has the ability to strengthen individuals with idol-like qualities, such as our Demon Queen!" Mira helped explain Alex's Job with her own earlier interpretation.
"Oh, that would be helpful!" The General smiled upon hearing that the hero they had summoned could support their Queen. "Then, Sir Alex, would you be willing to lend your power to help our Demon Queen?" She asked (read: demanded) Alex.
"Y-yeah! Absolutely...!" Alex answered the General, giving them all a nervous thumbs up as well. Mira was also happy that Sir Alex was willing to help them out. Meanwhile, Demon Queen Anna, on the other hand, was just watching the whole thing in silence.
The General then turned her attention back to the Demon Queen. "My Queen, I shall depart from here to support our forces on the battlefield! May our Kingdom emerge victorious in battle!" The General then stood up, gave her salute to the Demon Queen, and then left the throne room in a hurry.
The rest of them watched the General's departure in silence. After what seemed to be the longest seconds, the Demon Queen stood up from her throne.
"Mira," Queen Anna started.
"Y-yes, my Queen?" Mira answered the Queen's call.
"You are forgiven for hearing my secret as long as you keep it from spreading."
"Yes! Thank you, my Queen! I will take your secret to the grave!"
The Queen paused for a bit then took a glance at Alex, which startled him a bit. "Mira, I want you to keep an eye on Sir Alex," she said to Mira, with Mira nodding her head wildly. "Sir Alex... we will discuss your situation at a later time. For now, I will also depart to the battlefield." She finally said as she walked out from the throne room.
"Eh... yeah, good luck." Alex answered the Queen awkwardly.
"Yes, my Queen! I pray for your success on the battlefield and for our Kingdom's victory!" Mira interjected her wish to the Demon Queen, who was already leaving the throne room.
A silence fell when the Demon Queen's figure disappeared from their sight.
"Uhm... Sir Alex? I would like to apologize for all the troubles and even the sudden twist of events. Especially that you almost got yourself on the bad side of our Queen Anna..." She said with a solemn tone.
"Ah, yeah... It's fine," he answered Mira, trying to assure her.
"But don't worry, Sir Alex! I'm here to support you in any way possible!" Mira continued to offer her support, even more so because the Demon Queen Anna requested her to watch out for Alex.
"... ... ..." Alex was silent for a bit and had a deep thought.
"Sir Alex...?"
"Mira... can you tell me more about the Demon Kingdom... and the Demon Queen Anna?"