"..."
"..s..sariel..."
A shaken Landrose looks over at his subject with trembling eyes...
"Ah..."
Before turning back to face the young lord, who is staring at him with a bored expression on his face as he loosens his grip on his book.
"..."
"SARIEL!!!"
With an expression of utter disbelief, the shaken Landrose exclaims again!
"S-SARI-- i-it can't be..."
He calls out her name while fidgeting in place, the energy in his body slowly draining away with each cry...
"..."
"...tell me something, Knight of Brazier."
"Does talking to him always feel so... repetitive?"
Kasper turns lazily to face Nero, who keeps a blank expression.
"B-but how?!"
The words escape Landrose's lips as his descent into insanity begins.
"When did this all happen??"
"How did it all happen???"
He questions himself, cracks in his once-confident persona beginning to appear.
"Sariel...."
Landrose looks at her with teary eyes and a hand over his aching head.
"..."
His subject's response to which, is to maintain her usual blank, emotionless expression.
"Sari...--"
"--You disappoint me, Minister of Ashgate."
Kasper says, finally rising from his seat and heading to where Landrose is experiencing a psychotic breakdown.
"When..."
'When it comes to information warfare..."
"It is not the leader who compiles and distributes directives about what to do next that is the most important person..."
"It is the messenger."
The young lord says, standing face to face with the pink-haired demon.
"As such, in the event of any information leaks or misinformation, your first suspect should always be the messenger."
He says, the empty tone his words carry twisting Landrose into an even deeper spiral as the Minister of Ashgate begins to reflect on every conversation he has ever had with Sariel...
...hoping to discover some indication of the precise moment she may have switched sides.
"For someone so adamant on playing a game of shadows, you do not play it very well, Landrose."
Kasper says, staring blankly into the eyes of the Minister of Ashgate, whose shaky demeanour has rendered him unable to even register the young lord's presence.
"...B-but I trusted you..."
The words barely escape Landrose's lips.
"Trust is a word best kept in the dictionary, Landrose--"
"--I RAISED YOU!"
Ignorant of Kasper in front of him, the demon calls out to Sariel.
Prompting everyone to see, for the first time today, that Landrose has finally given up all hope of surviving this....
"S-sari..."
Landrose pauses again, the demon reduced to a mere shadow of his former self.
"..."
"So... Is there anything else you would like to be updated on?"
Kasper poses the question in another arrogant yet ostentatious manner. A clear indication of how Landrose's current state of mind is irrelevant to him.
"Let's see... Let's see.... Ah yes."
"Minister of Fort Marina. Or just Marina I guess..."
The young lord begins...
"As we speak, he is on the other side of the Demon-realm researching an ore that has the potential to launch Ashgate twenty years into the future!"
Kasper remarks, pointing brightly up at the ceiling stars that adorn the throne room.
"That is a long ways ahead of our adversaries, do you not think so too, Landrose?"
The young lord flaunts the assignment with a wry smirk.
"And the good priest?"
"Well, thanks to some recent information, the valiant Knight of Brazier was able to launch an attack and subjugate the 'Flame city' of 'Dashwood.'"
Kasper, gesturing to the white-haired Knight, smiles as he stands directly beside the broken Landrose.
"The significance of which was a substantial recovery on our part."
"...Especially after losing Fernworth."
The young lord says, possibly with a hint of salty disappointment in his voice.
"So, right now, the good minister is working hard to convert our 'newer' citizens."
"Lord knows we're going to need some worthwhile sacrifices soon..."
Kasper makes his remark in the most tongue-in-cheek manner possible, whispering the last part so only he and Landrose can hear.
"A futuristic technology and a whole new flock of believers to appease our neglected Gods..."
"I dare say, the Demon-Lord Supreme appears to be on top of everything... Wouldn't you agree?"
The young lord sarcastically asks Nero the rhetorical question before turning back to face Landrose.
"Oh, and you are already aware of the Knight of Brazier's current location, right?"
He says with a mocking smirk.
"So... for these reasons in particular, I find myself in a bit of a bind as to why you, the venerable Minister of Ashgate to Great-Lord Xhaka, do not appear to be all that convinced of his majesty's leadership..."
"I mean, a coup, Landrose?"
Kasper smirks blankly to himself.
"Surely, there is no need for that."
The young lord says with a bright but hollow smile.
"Having said that... As far as the royal court is concerned..."
"You, and you alone, appear to be the only one who takes significant issue with Great-Lord Xhaka's rule over Ashgate."
"Might the reason behind your treason be your jealousy of the Great-Lord's power?"
Kasper's smile and expression fade in a sudden shift in tone.
Returning the whole atmosphere of Landrose's predicament to hostile.
"Though..."
The young lord pats the side of Landrose's armour and leans in.
"Between you and me... I do not see how 'an addict', 'a thief', and 'a warmonger' can contribute positively to Ashgate's future..."
Kasper gives a sardonic grin, emphasizing each word for only Landrose to hear.
Resulting in Landrose's expression distorting to one of true terror! Forcing him to retreat away from the deviously smirking young lord.
"Perhaps a new court is in order... But hey... That's just me..."
Kasper floats the idea around childishly as the Minister of Ashgate looks at him as if it were one of his many encounters with the beast that sits on the chained throne.
"...Tr-TRAITOR!!!!"
The pink haired demon shouts suddenly!!
"TRAITOR!!! HE'S A TRAITOR!!!!"
The Minister shouts at the top of his lungs!!
Now showing total indifference to his reputation or image. A husk of a man only concerned with attracting one last audience from the wolves that have gathered around him to witness his final moments.
"L-LORD XHAKA!!!"
The kneeling Landrose cries!
"Your son intends to take the throne from under you!!"
He shouts...
"He will be your undoing... ALL OF YOU!!!"
The Minister cries again, gesturing to everyone in attendance, including the gathering staff who are watching in secret...
"Please, Lord Xhaka, you must believe--"
"--pffft... Ahahahahahahaha!!!!!"
But the demon's cries fall on deaf ears.
Most exemplified by the lack of concern shown by everyone when Landrose's entire speech is abruptly interrupted by a giggling Kasper, who appears especially unable to handle the absurd irony of the current situation...
"Now, why in the world would I try something like that?"
The young lord continues to cackle, while Landrose's expression quickly turns foul and hopeless.
"Take the throne??"
"Me???"
Kasper echoes the distraught Minister.
"Have you forgotten who I am in your desperate state, Landrose?"
The young lord questions him with an arrogant smile.
"'Charles Kasper Rov II'."
With a slight bow, Kasper makes a grand show of reintroducing himself to the now-finished Minister of Ashgate.
"If that is not clear enough for you, that means I am the heir to the chained throne."
The young lord points to his rear with a smug expression.
"So, why would I expend the effort to obtain something that is my birthright?"
He continues to chuckle to himself, even if only slightly.
"You tease Minister of Ashgate; you are truly unique, even among us demons."
The young lord laughs to himself.
"...I have no desire for what I am already owed."
Kasper turns to face Landrose again before deciding to go up to the demon who is kneeling.
"...although..."
"I have no problem adopting your role."
A cocky Kasper says, smirking maniacally at the distraught Landrose.
"I mean it's not like you'll be needing it..."
"Tch! Your Lordship--"
"--Sariel."
*Vwooom!*
!!!!SPLAT!!!!
"..."
-silence-
"..."
With a casual wave of the hand.
Landrose's head is sent flying.
Spinning up to the ceiling before landing with a sickening thud and rolling to the steps that lead to the chained throne...
"Hm?"
Kasper looks ahead of him, slightly perplexed by the direction in which the head flew...
"Sariel?"
The young lord summons his newest subject.
"...I-- 'it' moved before I could even blink..."
Sariel answers, demonstrating with a shook face and stance, hand on blade, that she had no involvement at all in the pink-haired demon's execution!
"..."
"Heh."
Tension replaces the confusion instantly as everyone's attention is drawn to a sneer from atop the throne.
"Kasper, you are a bright boy."
The beast that rules the Demon-realm breathes a compliment to his perplexed son.
"But the chained throne is still a century too soon for you."
It says, a short smile creeping down its side, revealing a missing canine in the same stroke as the scar it bears.
"Meet the new Minister of Ashgate."
Xhaka exclaims softly.
"Asmodeus."
Then, as if she had materialized out of thin air...
A pale white woman with long flowing red hair that reaches her hips and pitch-black eyes appears at Kasper's side...
Strolling past him wearing a stained black dress that sways with each step she takes and a cheeky smile.
What stains the dress?
Blood.
That unquestionably belongs to the felled Landrose of Ashgate...
"..."
"..."
-To Be Continued-