Asmodeus (11) - Demon

When most people refer to the imperial palace, they are talking about the entirety of the estate in which the palace is the dead center. The upper class, consisting of the rich and noble, refer to this seismic piece of land as Royal Estate. They call the emperor's residence, the center of all political activities, and the biggest building on the royal estate, the Imperial Palace.

Right now, Daren and his crew had left the eastern sector of the royal estate, where Marco Manor is located, and had arrived in front of the Imperial Palace. He had first seen this palace when the flying carriage landed. He had not stayed here long enough to admire the marvelous structure.

Over 90 percent of the buildings in the estate have medieval structures while a few special ones have ancient Japanese architecture. The Imperial Palace is one of those with its colorful tiles and arched roofs. The material practically shined by itself at night. Something you couldn't see during the nighttime.

There were also lanterns strewn everywhere to light up the venue and give it a relaxing esthetic. Daren admired how reminiscent the whole palace looked. He had been to the home planet of his race once. It was a planet called earth. Humans had to leave that planet as its atmosphere was ruined and life on it was dying.

Many centuries after humans had colonized their entire galaxy of the milky, they had enough resources and technology to restore the planet and bring it back to its old glory. After fixing its atmosphere and created suitable environments, humans brought back all the extinct plants and animals.

They had saved the DNA of countless creatures and were able to give them a new life. At the same time, the humans went back to their countries of origin and rebuilt the ruins of their once glorious nations.

Being a rich person, Daren had even spent countless quadrillions of credits in order to buy a small villa next to a volcanic mountain known as Mount Fuji. It had many lush forests surrounding it which made for quite the location for a vacation house.

During his time in what was once known as Japan, Daren had a fondness for the reconstruction of their ancient palaces and such. He liked Asian culture as a whole. Although he didn't hate medieval cultures of Europe and such, he found them too barbaric for his tastes. He found Asian culture to be quite clean, to say the least.

"It looks much better at night. It seemed to bland during the day." Chanela realized that the imperial palace is not ugly but rather dull during the day. The morning is when it pops out and keeps the onlooker's sights attached.

"I hope that isn't the case or all my hard work would have been in vain." A serene voice like that of an enchanting mermaid said these words with a calming tone.

Everyone turned to see the owner of this voice and was stunned instantly.

Silver hair that shone with a radiance that made the moon look mediocre. Silver eyes that are as captivating as two brilliant stars that were plucked straight from the night sky. Delicate facial features and luscious, cherry red lips.

Her skin looked to be as pure as snow and glowed with the energy of eternal youth. Her body wasn't lacking either as her long legs were accompanied by a stunning figure. Both front and back were not too big but not small either. It strangely felt like she was a perfect being. There was also a mole under her left eye that made her even more unique.

"Long live the Empress!" Blurt out a pair of maids that had guided the group from the manor to the palace.

"The empress?" questioned Daren internally. The girls next to him were thinking the same. They all were confused. She did not seem to be as old as they expected. Since the emperor was apparently 45 years old and, they expected the empress to be of similar age. 3

They expected a middle-aged woman to show up and not this hot as hell young lady that seemed t be barely 20. Daren started to wonder if she had taken some treasure that made her stay young as he heard there are things like that in this world. The other explanation is that there was something he wasn't informed of.

"Nice to meet you, your highness. Thank you for arranging our stay," said Daren as he bowed his head towards her very slightly. He would never bow his body or bend a knee as other people did.

Those kinds of actions were only the responsibilities of people who are citizens of this nation. Everyone knows that Daren and the girls are not from GIgantus so it would be inappropriate for them to bow or kneel. Nodding his head a bit is only to show respect towards their royal status.

"No worries. It's what I should do for a family of such talented and courageous individuals. Has there been anything wrong with your stay so far? You can ask me for anything," The empress sounded very worried for them and it somehow seemed genuine.

Daren though was used to seeing lies and could usually pick them apart with ease. He could see that there were some worries but there was another emotion behind her words that he could not sense. There was something off in her voice. It was subtle, but still there.

"There was nothing wrong. In fact, I and my daughter enjoyed it very much. The food was probably the best part!" yells out Celina as she looks towards her tiny daughter for agreement.

"Mommy is absolutely correct. Those sweets were some of the best I've had in a while. I want more!" Chloe agreed with her mother but just ended up demanding more treats.

"Hahaha. It's been so long since I've had such jolly guests. That's why had put in some extra effort into scouring the capital for those sweets. Just ask the maids and I'll get them for you at any time." The empress bends over and pats Chloe's head for a bit and then plays with her chubby cheeks.

"I am very happy that my services were enjoyable. Especially for this very cute daughter of yours. She reminds me of my own little sister. Just soo adorable." The empress had a fawning look on her face as she admired Chloe's face. It looked like she was going to just pick Chloe up and run away. The look was endearing yet scary at the same time.

"She's MY daughter. Of course, she's cute," says Celina with the proud expression of a doting mother.

'I can see the very striking resemblance." replies the Empress. "I would very much like to continue to talk with you all but I believe the banquet starts soon. Let us head inside as we will have more than enough time to talk there."

Everyone nodded in agreement with the empress. As they went in, Daren's gaze went over Chanela face. As usual, she had said nothing and just displayed a cold and uncaring expression. She seemed to have some traces of hostility towards the empress that was walking alongside them.

Creaaaak! The doors to the imperial palace opened by themselves as no one was touching from the inside or outside. The group of Daren's family, the Empress, and all their maids went through a series of fancy hallways that were decorated to the brim.

There were many portraits of past figures and paintings of mesmerizing scenery all over the walls. Sometimes, there were even suits of armor, swords, and spears that ll looked quite intimating. There are some oversized vases with strange yet vibrant plats/flowers everywhere but Daren paid them no attention.

It took about ten minutes to navigate through what seemed like on very complicated maze as there were many turns involved in their path to the banquet hall. In front of them was know an open hall that was bustling with the conversations of over 3 dozen people.

They all wore royal blue robes, dresses and there were 3 men and one woman that wore the same exact suit as Daren did. The only difference, they had medals and accolades pinned all over their chest. Some had more than others but all of them had at least a dozen.

In the middle of this room was someone that caught the entire group's eye. A young man, wearing a royal blue blazer and dress pants, that the rest of the people present were trying to talk to but were disappointed when he rejected them.

He had pale, white skin and bright, short white hair. His face is very handsome with striking features and very then lips. His eyes were a clear shade of light red and had dashes of pink in there. He sat on a small sofa all by himself while sipping wine.

what made him stand out though, was the things that were protruding from his head. Two pairs of blood-red, demon horns with black tips, about 5 inches were curving out from the sides of his skull.

"A demon. An actual demon. I thought the human countries hated Demons." Daren was sure he heard someone mention that Demons had border conflicts with the human realm and were not very welcome here.

Then why is one just sitting in the middle of the room with a calm and aloof face? Why is everyone trying to please him and trying to strike up a conversation with him?

The empress was the only one without a shocked face in their group as she was already aware of this man's presence. She looked at the rest of the group's astonishing faces and just kept smiling with a joyful expression. She found them amusing.

"I see that you are all surprised but I'll let the young man introduce himself." As the empress said this, the aloof eyes of the young demon landed on the group at the entrance to the hall.

He then blinked and teleported over to them without hesitation. The sofa that he was sitting on now had a burn mark on it. He approached Daren and stopped only a meter away from him.

He put forward his arm and hand in order to initiate a handshake towards Daren.

"Hi. I'm Ryan. You must be the dude who beat up that wyvern. It's pleasure to meet you." The demon boy introduced himself with a confident and anxious tone. His voice was slightly feminine with hints of energetic excitement.