23 Meeting

King Darius was thrilled. He had just received communication from the Goddess that his new champion would be arriving shortly. Wondering what kind of individual it was he quickly had his stewards prepare the feasting hall. Upon arrival into this world they would be greeted by the highest nobles in the kingdom and feast and drink to their hearts merriment. Only after would they discuss the unpleasantries of slaying the Demon Lord and helping them conquer the world.

Smiling brightly when a steward caught his attention to notify him the champion would be arriving now he quickly checked his attire. Regal and handsome he wanted to make sure that the champion respected him and the citizens of this kingdom for which they would fight.

'First impressions matter.'

Entering the room from which the champion was summoned into a sight reached his eyes which made him very confused. Some young girl was beating on one of his stewards! Calling for the guards the King rushed forward, as the king he had spent extensive time preparing his body and mind for times of battle. Even though he was confident he could take her it was always better to be safe then sorry.

Reaching out to grab the girl he had only moments to view her strange garments, before she shoved him with an open palmed hand sending him sprawling.

'Who was this devilishly strong girl?'

A voice cold as ice entered his ears, "Stay out of this."

The voice had originated from this girl. Cold dread filled him as he began connecting the dots. In a voice that the king barely was able to keep from rising an octave higher, "please stop. Why are you doing this?"

"He insulted me." she had said this as if it made perfect sense. By now the steward who had likely been a handsome young man was nearly unrecognizable. Contusions and bleeding cuts could be found aplenty on his face, and by the way he was curled up and clutching his chest the king strongly suspected that his ribs were broken.

"What did he do? I will make sure he receives the proper punishment." the king stated.

With a bratty look on her face she held up the outfit the king himself had picked for the champion and replied with a bratty voice, "He told me I should wear this hideous outfit. I demand his head as compensation!"

The king could only stare, how had this happened? 'This girl is unstable!'

Realizing that even with the combined forces of his palace guards even they might not be able to stop her he conceded, "Lets go somewhere more private and discuss this matter, I most deeply apologize for my stewards behaviour."

"I decline." the girl stated haughtily, "I was summoned here for one thing, to slay the demon lord, not to be insulted by idiots like this."

The king faced a hard decision and for one of the first times of his life it caused him hesitation. He knew the steward did not deserve to die, however his kingdom also needed the power of this bratty girl. He fumed inwardly as he cursed her to the gods, ironically the gods that had also chosen her as his champion. Looking again at the steward he could see the mans pleading eyes, begging for his life to be spared. The steward with a mouth full of blood struggled to speak, "I... I didn't even choose.." This was as far as he had gotten before Darius had walked forward and sliced off the mans head with his sword.

It was true, Darius had been the one to choose the outfit, it was also the stewards calling to die for the good of the kingdom. Guilt weighed heavily on him, but if this kept this champion on their good side and helped them conquer this world and rid it of the Demon Lord his life would not be in vain.

Fuyuko had watched the king move forward and behead his own steward. It gave her no small satisfaction to watch the internal struggle the king had before he cut the man down. The way this had went down was perfect. First she got to beat the steward as he wailed and cried, then she had gotten to see the king's heart seized with guilt as she forced this difficult decision on him.

'Delicious agony'

She had known it was the king himself who had chosen the outfit the steward had previously made this explicitly clear before the king had arrived. She didn't care what it looked like, she had made this scene with one goal in mind. To test the king. Her mind calculating began taking notes of the human psyche. This world was already fun and she was just getting started.

The king seeing her stare closely at him while he had beheaded the steward felt unease. For the briefest of moments he thought he had seen the flicker of a smile on her face. He nodded briefly at her and walked out grabbing the first steward he saw by the lapels of his attire, "Cancel the feast."

There was no way he wanted to introduce this champion to his citizens.

...

Dah looked at Princess Mai with contempt in his eyes, "If you wished only for peaceful conversation then why did this man draw his sword and attack me without provocation?"

She had no reply, of course she had no way of knowing what had made Saul lose his wits.

Standing in silence as he waited for a response Dah took this moment to begin submitting Saul's soul. After cracking the priest he had gotten much quicker and could even submit souls while multitasking like now.

With no response forthcoming Dah continued, "Let no one say I am not gracious." before settling back onto his throne.

"State what you came here for, I may be gracious but time is a precious thing even to one such as myself."

Mai and her company looked on in shock, after witnessing the brutality of Saul's death they had felt sure they would die mere moments later. Despite the fact that there were so many mages within their ranks they knew resolutely if this Demon Lord were to attack them they would be slaughtered without hope.

Bowing deeply Mai began her story.

...