Chapter 9

Argit slammed into the ground, breaking the paved road as he landed. Bree simply appeared behind him and took in the new sight before her: the capital of Maragon. She smiled as it was the most normal-looking capital out of the three she had seen. Irenfell's had been too clean. Ozama's had been wondrous to behold, but this one looked like an average city, with a large castle decorating its center.

"Welcome to Vosa, the capital of Maragon!" Argit declared as he spun on the paved road.

"Do you ever stop enjoying yourself?" Bree questioned with a smile.

"Do you?" Argit shot back as he stopped spinning and pointed at her with finger guns. 

"Not usually," Bree looked towards the castle, but Argit held his hand up, asking her to stop.

"Can you wait here?" Argit asked. "I want to surprise old Thomas." Bree waved him off, and he spun away like a top, laughing as he headed towards the castle.

Bree looked at the shops that lined the streets. She noted that no one was around, unaware Argit had chosen to land on a shady back street to avoid attention.

The shop she selected was a second-hand shop. Standing at the counter, dusting the knickknacks, was a creature in a long, dark purple hooded robe that covered its entire body. Instead of arms, it had several long black tendrils holding feather dusters and several more acting as legs.

As she entered, the creature turned to look at her, its face hidden by a white mask with four eye holes.

"You break it, you buy it," it informed her before returning to its dusting.

"Duly noted," Bree replied. She saw several different kinds of items for sale. After passing a display of sunglasses, she took an interest in a selection of books and began browsing to see if they had anything on botany.

While Bree looked at what was in stock, three young teenage human boys walked in; they wore ratty clothes and bandanas over their faces, each holding a classic street weapon: a crowbar, a led pipe, and a baseball bat.

The one with the bat walked up to the counter, and the monster behind it looked at them and then turned away.

"I'm not paying you," it snarled, "I don't care if this is your 'turf,' I ain't paying you nothing,"

"Oh, come now," The man with the bat said as he tossed the bat over his shoulders ``We don't want any trouble, just pay up. It would be such a shame for your little shop here to go out of business, and what if some ruffians vandalized the place," The boy leaned forward. "Why, we simply can't afford to keep you safe from them for free, so you have to pay us,"

"Leave," The Monster demanded. Bree looked over at the commotion, holding a book about the different kinds of magical potions that could be created using only magical plants, and inwardly groaned.

"I just want to go somewhere without something dramatic happening once," Bree calmly walked up to the commotion with her desired book and stood behind the three men as they pestered the monster behind the counter.

"Whoa!" the guy with a crowbar said when he noticed Bree. "Check out this chick's eyes; they look like they're about to pop out of her head." Bree didn't respond to the casual insult, expecting it at this point. The lead pipe looked at her for a moment and then backed away, visibly scared of Bree, who appreciated that he didn't just throw an insult at her.

"Hey," He said nervously, "I know we're doing a thing, but I pay attention during Magic theory class, and the expression 'eyes are the window to the soul' is said to be literal with Monsters. Small-eyed monsters have weak magic, but those with lots of eyes or large eyes are crazy strong,"

"Hu," Bree scratched her chin, having never heard of such a saying, but noted that Magic theory sounded like something she should study.

The one with the bat looked towards Bree, and she could tell from his eyes that he was about to do something stupid.

"Well, then, why don't we test it?!" The man swung his bat, and Bree simply stood in place as he stopped just before he hit her. "Ha, pretty slow for a 'powerful' monster," He laughed as he swung his bat up and tossed it back over his shoulder. "How about you skedaddle bug-eyes,"

"Why don't you skedaddle instead, young man?" Bree recommended.

"Are you threatening me?" The teen asked, "I'll have you know I'm a minor; I'm sure the guards would be interested to hear about this, of course, for the right price. I'm sure they'll never find out,"

"That's it," The Monster behind the counter turned with a furious gaze, making the three hooligans jump when it lashed two of its arms against the counter like a whip. I can handle your yapping, but I won't have you hustling my customers. Leave, or I'm calling the guard!"

"Whatever," the one with the bat said. Come on, boys. We have some protection money to gather from people who want peace of mind, and we'll be looking you up later, bug-eyes. You better be ready to pay up when we find you, or there'll be trouble." The teens all laughed as they left, the one with the pipe keeping his distance from Bree, his laughter echoing with nervousness.

"I'd like this, please," Bree said as she put the book on the counter.

"Of course," The Monster said politely. "And no worries, the holiday ends tomorrow; they go back to school and will no longer have time to bother I or you,"

Bree was leaning against the wall of the store, reading her new book, when Argit returned, rolling down the street like a big red ball; he jumped and skidded to a halt on his feet, ending up right next to her as he did so.

"Alrighty then," Argit cheered. "Dinner is being prepared; let's go get introductions out of the way, shall we?" Bree closed her book and returned it to her inventory before levitating off the ground and flying towards the castle with Argit's red blur following after her at high speed.

Bree landed softly in front of the wall surrounding the castle and took note of the Argit-shaped hole in it before Argit slammed into it, making a second imprint upon the stone as he did so.

Argit pulled himself from the wall and walked away from his crater without a backward glance.

Bree followed Argit to the wall. Bree noticed the street around here actually had a fairly decent crowd; she figured out why when a cheer for Argit started, he waved at them with a smile. 

Bree found it kind of funny that Argit was a big deal for a moment, then a hand suddenly pulled her harshly back as a large group of people holding white wands with orbs floating above them pushed past her.

"Out of the way," She heard someone say. A hand smacked her in the eye; Bree's sense of direction was shot for a moment as multiple hands yanked and pulled her out of their way.

She had just escaped what she could guess were reporters when a large guard grabbed and shoved her into the crowd harshly.

"Get back," He said irritably. "No one past this point, dammit," Bree was beyond confused, not at being manhandled, but that she had tried to force them back with magic and was unable to activate it.

"Argit," She tried to call out, only to be drowned out by the crowd screaming the same name. "Dammit, I can't just push past; I've never been good at holding back my strength. I could seriously hurt someone. Maybe I could-" Bree's train of thought was cut off when someone was pushed over and slammed their hands on top of Bree's head to steady themselves.

"Do you mind?" Bree yelled angrily. The woman who had steadied herself on Bree fiercely apologized for her actions before going back to try and get to the front of the crowd, where a lot of knights were holding back the line.

Argit himself was talking to the reporters and had yet to realize Bree had disappeared.

"Are the rumors true? Are you now the third strongest Demon Lord?" A reporter called out.

"Why yes, they are," Argit began striking poses as he spoke to the press. "Although It has yet to be confirmed If I am now Stronger than Trish or if Trish just got weaker,"

"Rumor has it your weapon of choice, the golden fan blade ax you used in your legendary battle with the Dragon King, has been stolen. Do you have any comments on this?"

"Actually, I bet it in a fight and lost it," Argit replied merrily, "my opponent wasn't even fully trying," Argit shook his head "I got played,"

"Is it true that an elf is working under you as one of your new subordinates,"

"No, the elf in question would be who beat me, her name is Bree and she's recently founded the new nation of Melodia, with its capital located in Green-water, she added a hyphen because looking at the long name exhausted her, or something like that I dunno it was like a month ago,"

Argit blinked and looked above the heads of the reporters, finding only empty space behind them, "Speaking of Bree, she was just behind me?" Argit looked around and attempted to jump up, only to jump a little ways off the ground "Ah, I always forget about the Anti-magical Barrier," He groaned before taking a deep breath and screaming out as loud as he could "Hey Bree, If you can hear me pull out my Fan Ax so I can finds ya,"

Thanks entirely to her exceptional hearing Bree heard Argit over the crowded and tried reaching inside of her Inventory, she smiled when she succeeded.

"I Suppose this is a special skill, not magic," She laughed as she pulled out the Fan Ax and Held it up as high as she could. Argit and every other person in the crowd saw it at once.

"Hey! That's Argit's Fan Ax; that must be the chick who stole it," Bree blinked as Misinformation reigned supreme, and the crowd began grabbing and pulling at her, someone's elbow slammed into her face and a rock hit the hand holding the Fan Ax.

Bree was willing to put up with a lot of things, but among the few things that always made her mad, someone attempting to disarm her by force was second only to someone hurting her followers. Bree grabbed the person who had elbow-dropped her by the arm and flung them over her head, scattering the crowd.

"Hey," Argit called out loudly. "No, no, she won it in a fight, and she hates being disarmed. Chill, everyone, chill!" Argit's cries fell on a crowd that was too focused on their own narrative to listen to reason.

Bree looked to who was hitting her with a rock, only to receive a rock directly into her eye, angry more than hurt she raised her free hand and called out.

"Anti-Magic absorption," Anti-magic filled her hand and shot up, upon hitting the anti-magic barrier she pulled her Anti-magic back to her, sucking the shield in with it.

"Oh, that's so cool," Argit screamed out "What even was that!?"

"Who threw that rock?" Bree demanded, her voice now magnified with so much magic that any too close to her were swept off their feet, the crowd parted away from her and Argit slid in with his hands raised.

"Alright, everyone relax," He called, waving peace signs "She won the Fan ax from me in a fight, so maybe don't go throwing rocks at the lady who can kick my ass," Bree put the Fan ax away and grumbled as she walked past the guard who had yanked her into the crowd, who now flinched away from her as she walked past.

She heard the reporters mumbling and focused her ears on them.

"Elf spotted in Vosa, Shorter than you think," One of them asked.

"Short, bug-eyed woman claims to be Elf: Beats Demon Lord Argit?" Another recommended, before shaking their head "No to long for a headline, needs to be shorter,"

"Oh, I got one," Another declared proudly. "Short Bug-eyes creature causes mayhem in Vosa," the reporters were prevented from coming up with more names when an angry voice called out.

 "I'm standing right here" she said angrily, having casually walked into the group of reporters who were all coming up with different titles for their piece that resolved around the theme of insulting her height and eyes, Argit scooted Bree along, laughing nervously as her eyes twitched irritably at the reporters.

"She gets violent when people upset her," Argit said apologetically as he pushed Bree inside the entrance to the Castle courtyard. "And she is an Elf," He called back.

"Well, so far, this place has been both nice and terrible," Bree informed Argit, "They sure seem to love you, though,"

"Oh, I killed a Feral Dragon out this way like a hundred or two years ago, and the story just grew wild, think they're claiming it was the King of all Dragons now," Argit just shook his head. "Honestly, I only killed it to try and impress their king, but he wasn't interested," 

Argit and Bree made their way through the massive courtyard, past lavish bushes, a cliche bush maze made out of red roses, and exotic-looking birds that made Bree question the differences between a Feral and wild animal.

"So what was that?" Argit demanded out of the blue, "You just like…you ate the Anti-magic barrier, that was…that was just so broken! You gotta teach me how to do whatever that was,"

"Anti-Magic absorption is typically used to suck up magical shields and add their power to the user's Mana pool; using it on Anti-Magic barriers does knock them down, but it also drains your stamina and magic, so it's kind of useless if your fighting someone alone, but as I just demonstrated it still has plenty of uses outside direct combat," 

"So cool," Argit chuckled. "The old world had so many cool things hidden away in it; it must have been a hoot and a half to live in; what was it like? Come on, tell me!"

"Well, there was only one continent that was split into four areas: to the south, there was a large kingdom where basically everyone lived; to the east, there was a giant Volcano that was always billowing out Volcanic gas; the north was a frozen wasteland, and the West side of the continent was just a massive forest, and smack dab in the center of it all was a mountain, you could see the entire world just from standing on its peak" Bree sighed as she thought back to all the time she had spent in the game world.

"A large kingdom, Volcano, Frozen wasteland, and giant forest?" Argit asked, scratching his chin. After a moment, he seemed to think of something, "Was there a giant obsidian Pillar in any of those areas? And I mean massive, like bigger than this castle big,"

"Oh yeah," Bree smiled as she thought about it. "The Obsidian Pillar, the 4th Pillar of Eternity," Bree laughed, "I think the guardian was..oh, who was it again? Was it the beast with a thousand eyes? That was one hell of a raid boss to fight," Argit slowed to a stop, his mouth agape as Bree reminisced on her first time fighting the beast with a thousand eyes.

"I teamed up with a guild, and together, we numbered about seventy-two, I think. Only four of us survived to the end of the fight, and when he died, he dropped the all-seeing eye, then when we were looting-"

"Hold up," Argit grabbed Bree and looked at her with actual terror on his face. "You fought the beast with a thousand eyes?"

"You know about it?" Bree asked in confusion.

"The Scriptures of Salvo," Argit suddenly spat to the side before continuing, "say that the four legendary heroes of old sealed ten creatures of unfathomable power into ten Pillars-"

"Then the Lich Queen freed them," Bree cut in as she recalled the base storyline of the game, "and with the heroes long dead, no one could stop her or the creatures so the land was doomed; then a hero rose, and with their companions, they sealed the beasts away and sealed the Lich Queen by ripping apart her tainted soul and storing piece of her in all ten pillars," Bree waved her hand as she spoke, "And how do you know about that?"

Argit just stared at Bree with his mouth wide open and just stood in silence for a moment before he recomposed himself and patted Bree on the head. "We can talk about that later. Come on, let's go meet old King Thomas," Argit continued on his way towards the castle, with Bree following after him, wondering how Argit knew about the game's plot and what his history with the fourth pillar was.

The Two were met by the guard at the front entrance and escorted to what Bree figured was most likely the King's Dining room. A single long table filled with food was before them; an older-looking man wearing a crown sat at one end; on his right was a woman far younger than he was, and on his left sat a young boy.

"Thomas," Argit cheered. "So good to see you again, how have things been,"

"Argit," Thomas's voice was withered with age, but he spoke in a proud tone without formality, "Sit, we have much to discuss," Thomas failed to so much as give Bree a passing glance as he directed Argit to his seat, the only other seat at the table.

"I see I don't get a chair," Bree noted.

"You may stand with my guards," Thomas replied, waving Bree's towards the side of the room.

"Uh, Thomas, this is Bree, the ruler of that nation I was telling you about,"

"Being the leader of a new nation does not entitle one to my hospitality," Thomas waved Bree away once again. "Go stand with the guard," Argit shrugged awkwardly, and Bree irritably walked to the side of the room and stood with the guards; she heard a chuckle and eyed the men surrounding her as Thomas began speaking.

"Now, what is it that you wish to speak with me about? And do be quick about it, won't you?"

"I already told you," Argit whined. "I brought my new Elf-friend,"

"Then present them to me," Thomas said simply. Bree waited to be introduced when something wet and slimy hit her face; she pulled it away and found a wad of partially chewed meat; she quickly spied the perpetrator as the Child at the king's table spat into his hand and threw his food at her.

"Could you…" Bree attempted to politely ask the child, who she figured was the Prince, to stop, but she was cut off when two swords were held by her neck by the surrounding guard.

"No outsiders are to speak to the Prince directly; not even demon lord Argit is permitted to do so," The guard warned. "Do so again at your peril,"

"That would be her," Argit noted nervously. "The leader of the new nation," Thomases' reaction somewhat insulted Bree, and he burst out laughing.

"You mean to tell me that you came all this way to try and pass off some short Bug-eyed monster as an elf?" Thomas hit the table, and Bree bit her tongue angrily as she was once again pegged with a wade of half-eaten food.

"Alright, let's be calm," Argit said as he felt Bree staring at him in irritation. "I know you know how incredicbly rude it is to insult someone to their face," Thomas simply continued laughing.

"Oh no, it's gonna use its elf magic on me," his Son laughed with him, and the woman, who was probably the Queen, just ate her meal with a disappointed head shake. "Oh no, if only I had an Anti-magic barrier surrounding my castle,"

Argit chuckled nervously at Thomases words. "Yeah…no," Argit raised his index finger, and a flame burst to life around it. "That Barrire is long gone,"

Thomas looked at Argit in silence for a brief moment before slamming his hands on the table as he stood up.

"I will not stand for this," He said angrily. "First, you come in telling stories about elves for attention, then you bring that hideous thing in here, claiming it to be said elf, and then you dare to break the Anti-magic Barrier I have set up to keep my son safe!?"

Bree officially had no idea what the hell was happening as Thomas grabbed his son and forced his face into his chest.

"You and I will be talking Later, Argit," Thomas said venomously. "Remove him from my castle and Arrest that thing for attempting to converse with my boy,"

"I will kill anyone who dares try to arrest me for the crime of attempting to complain about having half-eaten food thrown in my face," Bree threatened without hesitation, breaking her calm face into an irritated one for the second time since she had arrived at the capital.

Thomas marched out of the room with his son, leaving his wife behind. She simply waved the guards off, and they marched out of the room.

"I am so sorry," the woman said as she got up and bowed to Argit in a polite tone before turning to Bree. "Please forgive my self-centered windbag of a husband; he's just too lost in his mind to care about anyone else. I'll make sure the charges on you are dropped," 

The Queen walked out of the room quietly, and once they were alone, Bree turned on Argit.

"Chill King Hu?" She demanded, "What part of that man is chill?"

"Well, I haven't really talked to him in 15 years," Argit laughed back nervously. "But after I fought you, I told everyone I could think of about you," Argit shook his head. "I was not prepared for old Thomas to have turned into such a…a drag; I mean, look at that!" Argit waved his hand up to the wall; Bree followed his motion to a decorative ornament hanging above the door.

The ornament in question was shaped like a W, with the center being much longer and the two sides being curved like an S, looping back in at the top.

"Alright, I don't know what my reaction here should be; I'm pretty sure I've never seen that thing before,"

"That's an insignia for the church of Salvo," Argit spat at the name. "Gods above, I hate them,"

"The Church of Salvo?" Bree frowned at the word Church and could only think of a single one she had ever heard of in the world she now called home. "Like that 'enslave all monsters because Humans are the best' Church?"

"No, that's the Church of the Humanitarian,"

That sounds right, albeit somewhat ironically. So, who's this Salvo guy?"

"Salvo was a King about three thousand years ago. His entire country was destroyed when he managed to open the Obsidian Pillar and released the Beast of a thousand eyes onto his nation,"

Argit was fuming as he spoke, and when it became clear he wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon, Bree pulled up a chair and gave him a drink from the table to help him calm himself before he continued the story.

"Over 2 million people died, including three Demon lords," Argit hit the table and cracked it as he spoke. "I was still young, wasn't even through my first century as a Demon lord when it happened; my Sister, her husband, and my friend Penny all died sealing that fucking thing away,"

"I'm…very sorry you have to go through all that," Bree patted him slightly before he jumped up and pointed at the curved w on the wall.

"No apologies necessary; you've lost comrades to that beast too," Argit replied; Bree didn't have the heart to tell him that everyone who died was revived at the end of the raid battle and that they had tried to use a cheap glitch in the system to cheat her out of her rewards right after the fight, "The Church of Salvo is a group of dumbasses who are trying to find and open that same fucking Pillar because they believe that the story is a lie and want to prove his innocence," Argit began spitting out literal flames as he spoke "But I was fucking there, save for one of the current nine demon lords, we where all there, but no, we're just lying for no reason because profits apparently,"

"And the worst part," Argit turned to Bree, clenching his fist, "If that beast is released again, we don't have enough Demon Lords to fend it off again,"

"My, I must say I do not like this place very much," Bree decided as she looked at the symbol of Salvo. "While I can see bits and pieces that seem alright to me, that, along with the number of times I have been called Bug-eyed, is really dragging my opinion of this place through the mud, but it has that one nice shop, maybe I could bribe that thing into coming to Green water?"

"And that's another thing," Argit suddenly flared back up as he kicked the chair the prince had been sitting at. "Insulting my friend, fine, she's her own woman, she can deal with her own problems, but trying to arrest her, a visiting dignitary, for talking to the prince, and then he gets all uppity with me and tries to have me thrown out?" Argit snuffed out the fire in his mouth and blew steam. "Oh, this entire visit has exposed some serious issues in this nation,"

Argit grabbed the chair he had kicked and pulled it towards the end of the table before taking a seat in it, "Bree, you've got my old seat; let's eat while we wait for old Thomas to return," Bree took a seat and together the two dined as they waited.

Both Argit and Bree had eaten their fill by the time Thomas and his wife returned; Thomas snapped and pointed to the wall. "Off the chair," He demanded of Bree.

"Being the king of a large nation does not entitle you to boss me around," Bree replied at once, "Especially seeing how there's no feasible way for you to make me move," Thomas ground his teeth as he took his seat, his wife sitting next to him.

"As the ruling Monarch of Maragon, you will show me the respect I am due and obey my word, for in this nation, it is law. Now go stand by the wall until I decide what to do with you,"

"Big words," Argit cut in. "But you are aware you're trying to get someone stronger than me to obey you, right? And just a little f.y.i, rumors are true I am now the third strongest Demon Lord, making Bree comparable to Clementine, probably weaker than Mimzy but definitely equal to or greater than Clem,"

"Are you threatening me?" Thomas demanded.

"That was not a threat; it was a fact," Argit replied. "Nothing you do or say will make her or I move until we've had a nice long chat," Argit took a turkey leg and bit into it before continuing with food in his mouth. "So care to explain that shit?" Argit used the turkey leg to point at the Symbol of Salvo.

"The Church of Salvo seeks truth in a world where Demon Lords lie and scheme," Thomas shot back. "Salvo was a great man; you Demon Lords killed him and his nation to cover up the true use of the Obsidian Pillar and…" Argit finished chewing and cut him off.

"Wow, how the mighty have fallen," Argit laughed as he tossed his turkey leg aside, leaving it to tumble across the table messily, "Remember that week you and I spent with Demon Lord O'Brian? Hunting that feral Onikuma that had been ravaging your lands, Two demon lords stopped everything to help you out entirely because you asked us to, and yet you sit here not but two decades later calling us both liars?" Argit shot smoke out of his nostrils. "You've let your Ego overtake the man you used to be; when was the last time you left this castle?"

"He hasn't been outside in 9 years," The Queen replied.

"Shut up," Thomas spat at her, "Now listen, We had a deal, and you lost,"

"Like hell I did," Argit shot back. "This here is a genuine Elf,"

"Elves are tall and slender; they were said to have been beyond beautiful, had a deep-rooted connection to nature, and were known for their respect and wisdom," Thomas pointed to Bree. "This thing is short, bug-eyes, hideous, and was stupid enough to taunt my child,"

"Thomas, I swear, I will punch you," Argit shot back. "And her looks and personality don't matter; I used appraisal, and guess what!?" Argit leaned forward. "Go one guess,"

"I…"

"She's an Elf!" Argit practically screamed out, "Bam, boom, done deal, you owe me a whip,"

"This is just another example of Demon lords using their power to lie to the masses," Thomas declared. "You lost, and as per our arrangement, you are required on your honor to aid me in the war against the Demon Lord Mimzy," Argit simply laughed, his anger melting away.

"Every Demon Lord could all gang up together, and we'd still get our asses handed to us by Mimzy," Argit declared. "That's so stupid that I would think you were joking if not for that Salvo crest up there," Argit got to his feet and took a deep breath before walking up to Thomas and smacking him across the face with an open palm slap.

"Get your shit together," Argit said in a stern voice. "I don't care how great you think you are, you have no right to arrest people for 'talking to your son,' and you better believe this when I say, if I hear you actually take part in some 'holy war' against Mimzy I'll come down here and declare war on your nation, I'm sure you can imagine how many problems will rise should I call for your people to leave you and come to me,"

Argit turned away from Thomas and waved him away, "Now get the hell out of here; I'm gonna talk to your wife; she seems like the less stupid of the two of you," 

"You dare…" Thomas attempted, only for Argit to look back at him, silently daring him to stay in the room; after a moment, he turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door in his wake.

"That guy?" Bree asked the queen. "There must have been someone better,"

"It was an arranged marriage," The Queen assured her. "But ever since he came home with Charles, he's gone down a slippery path," She sighed as she shook her head. "I'm so sorry he made a scene in front of your elf friend,"

"Now, why is it you believe I'm an elf?" Bree questioned suspiciously.

"The guards informed me that a short woman holding Argit's Fan ax used Anti-magic to absorb the Anti-Magic barrier, and I have never heard of any creature having enough mana to casually absorb all that Anti-magic and still be casually walking around within minutes of doing it," The Queen smiled "Seeing as we know nothing about Elves I'm choosing to believe you must be one, at the very least you're definitely not of a race I've encountered before,"

"Oh yeah, she is old," Argit cut in. "She was around before the Lunar Sea was formed," Argit leaned in closer and whispered, "She's even seen the Beast with a thousand eyes,"

"Well then," The Queen stood up and offered her hand to Bree, who shook it politely. "I am Queen Milena,"

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Both Argit and Bree respond with the same polite tone.

"I'm interested to know, if you're as old as you say you are, do you know any kinds of magic that haven't survived the ages?"

"She can do Ice magic," Argit responded simply. "She also said her mastery is in the Botanical Magical field,"

"That's technically a half-truth," Bree thought nervously. "I only said that because that was what I went to college for. I was a master in the game, sure, but it was only used to get more raw material for crafting potions and items; there's only one spell attached to it,"

"That said, I've never actually seen her use it," Argit chuckled. "You can imagine how embarrassing it is to get beat by someone only to find out they never used any of their good stuff on you,"

"If I might be so bold, could I see some of this Botanical Magic?" Mila asked politely. "I know you probably think I'm just some old queen, but I'm also the head chairwoman for the Pandoran School of Magicraft; I'd be interested to see what we could learn from you,"

"Um, sure," Bree replied nervously. "I'll just need some soil,"

"The School has a Greenhouse," Mila replied instantly. "how about we go see what you can do there?"

"Yes!" Argit replied in Bree's stead "I have got to see this; let go immediately, Although I am still owed a magic whip,"

"I'll try to get my husband to see reason," Mila shook her head as she spoke, "But I can't promise anything," Mila walked to the door and waved for them to follow her, "Come along, the School is a fair distance away and can only be found by someone who already knows where it is. Otherwise, you could fly right above it and fail to see it,"

Argit and Bree followed Mila out of the dining area and out into the courtyard; Bree once again enjoyed the view of the well-kept grounds as they made their way to a carriage. Bree's interest was stolen from the grounds when she saw what was pulling the Carriage; a Large Griffin was harnessed to the front and was waiting for them without a movement.

Bree did her best to avoid its gaze; as Griffins had been a hostile mob in the game, she didn't want to test to see if it would attack her given the chance and instead chose to get inside the carriage with as little fuse as she could.

Once they were all sitting, Mila raised her hand, and a magic circle came to life; Bree frowned at it while the Carriage began moving.

"I see you're not a fan of Soul Bind," Mila noted as Bree looked at her hand. "But it was either that or killing the poor thing; Feral Griffins are a little too violent for their own good; this one tried to attack the castle a few years back for no reason other than it was flying past and randomly decided it wanted to live here,"

"Well, I'm no fan, but that's mainly because I've only really seen it be used to subjugate Monsters; taming a feral feels like an acceptable use of it," Bree looked out the window of the carriage and noted that they were not on the ground, "This is new, how is this Carriage keeping balance with the Griffin?"

"Simple levitation charm; it uses the Griffin like a magic battery to charge the spell, but no worries, it would pass out from exhaustion long before this charm could drain it of magic," Bree didn't respond as she looked out the window. Vosa was already lost to the horizon, and all she could see was a massive forest; she watched as they slowly began dropping in altitude.

Argit was looking out the other side of the carriage and frowned, "Say I don't see this school,"

"Just wait for us to land," Mila replied simply. Bree and Argit waited patiently as the Carriage came to a halt; upon it coming to a stop, Bree saw nothing but trees.

"Where in the!?" Argit suddenly cried out. Bree looked at him and saw him staring out her window; she looked back out, and what had looked like simply any other part of the forest was suddenly a large open field, a shimmering lake could be seen off in the distance, and hundreds of monsters and humans alike were casually walking about, all dressed up in matching uniforms.

"Welcome, "Mila declared proudly, "To the Pandoran school of Magicraft." Bree and Argit looked up and saw the school itself; it looked like someone had built three Castles and then decided to combine them after they were built.

Each Castle looked to have about 20 floors, with multiple Spiraling Towers built onto each one; several floors were randomly connected from castle to castle with bridges. 

"Where did all this come from?" Argit demanded as he looked out at the school. "How long has this been a thing? I'd have come to visit way more if I had known there was a magic school here,"

"Its full name is the Pandora Institute of Magicraft and Learning, usually simply called Pandora's Castle, and it has been a recognized school for well over two hundred years," Mila responded casually.

"Dammit, It must have happened during that 80-something-year staring contest I had with O'Brian!"

"Argit, you live a weirdly interesting lifestyle," Bree chuckled. "Did you win your little contest?"

"I sneezed and lost," Argit said tearfully before clapping. "Anyway, that's the story of how I lost my Fan Ax for the third time in my life,"

"What time am I?" Bree asked with mild concern.

"5th," Argit replied, "Don't get too attached to it; I'll win it back eventually, I always do,"

"Now then," Mila declared as she clapped her hands together, attempting to gain Bree and Argit's attention. "The Greenhouses are right behind the centermost castle," Mila began walking with Argit and Bree following after her.

"So, how does this School work?" Bree asked, "Do the students stay all year round? Do they come and go every day?"

"Students are required to live on campus, as are the staff, with the only exception being me; as I'm the queen of the nation, I have to swap living space every couple of weeks,"

As Mila was talking, Bree and Argit looked at the students on the grounds, realizing they were all heavily grouped up. They put together they were participating in some sort of after-class sport or something.

 "I wasn't expected to return for another two days, but I'll happily take your example of Botanical magic as an excuse to leave home early," Mila pointed to the towers before adding, "There are eight Towers in total that are used for the Students to Live in, and two for the staff, Each Tower is separated by Grade, with the Grade rising with the students every year, when the 8th years graduate their old Tower becomes the next first-year Tower,"

"Amazing," Bree looked up at the large school and wished she had been born into the world she now called home. "Wish I could have gone to a magical school; we didn't have any…back in the day,"

"Don't fret about it," Argit said, waving her words away, "They didn't exist when I was a kid either, all self-taught back in the day, although kids nowadays know more magic than I did by the time I became a Demon Lord, so gotta respect the system, if it works it works,"

Bree and Argit made casual conversation as they made their way around the outer layer of the castles and quickly found eight buildings of different sizes behind the castle.

"Each Greenhouse is for a specific year; the smallest one is for first years; as they get more experienced, they move on to the larger Greenhouses with more advanced magical plants; after their seventh year, their classes are split apart, and only those who have a history of excellence in their Enchanted Botany courses are allowed to participate in the year eight Botany class,"

Mila passed the smaller Greenhouses and brought them straight to the largest one. Bree's eyes sparked as the door was opened; there were Flowers the size of Trees, tiny trees with multiple types of fruit on them, a Flower with eyes, and Vines that had wrapped themselves together into hands that were waving at them in greeting.

"Amazing," Bree said as she walked in and looked at all the different breeds of plant, each one unique with no duplicates in the Greenhouse.

"Here we are," Mila said as she waved her hand, and a Large Pot slid towards them, filled with soil, "Alright then, Ms.Bree, whenever you're ready,"

Bree felt a spike of nervousness, having forgotten they were there to put her abilities to the test. She walked up and put her hand in the soil, silently trying to think of an impressive-looking plant from the game that she knew the spell would work on.

"Come on," Argit said as he put his hand in the soil. "I wanna see something Majestic,"

"Ah!" Bree smiled as Argit unintentionally reminded her of a spell. "I always said the most majestic plant was the Rainbow Flower," she realized. Both Argit and Mila looked at her in confusion for a moment, and her hand began glowing. 

"Lox Lotum '' She called out. The pot began shaking violently, and then a large mocha-colored flower steam burst to life. It grew to the size of a small tree before five large red petals grew around a stamen that took the shape of a long black horn. The Flower Petals spread out from one another and burst into blue flames.

"What in the name of the Creator is that?" Mila asked as she looked at the flaming flower. Bree looked at it with equal amounts of confusion before realizing why it looked vaguely familiar.

"Argit," She said, turning to the Demon Lord with a smile on her face. "Was your hand in the soil of the pot?" Argit blinked and looked at his hand, which was casually resting in the soil; he raised it and found a root touching his palm.

Bree began laughing, and he looked at her in confusion as she laughed.

"What?" he asked in confusion. "Did I do something?"

"Rainbow Flowers absorb magic from the air and can take on many different shapes, sizes, and colors," Bree replied as she laughed. "But since your hand was in the pot, it latched onto it!" She took a deep breath. "This flower is infused with your fire magic; It's an Argit Flower now,"

Argit looked at the Flower for a moment before gasping, "It's a Me, Flower? I need this in my garden immediately,"

"I've never heard of a Rainbow Flower before," Mila said as she inspected. "I'm not seeing where the Rainbow part of the name comes in,"

"That's because this isn't a Rainbow Flower," Bree informed her. "Since Argit touched it, it became an Argit Flower. Typically, a rainbow flower looks like a giant flower with rainbow petals," Bree pondered about their location. "They were only found around the Moutnian basin, so the Meteor definitely wiped them out,"

"Extinct Demon Flowers?" Argit gasped. "I claim Rights as a Demon Lord; this is mine. I'll fight a war over it if I don't get to keep it; it's infused with my Magic, so it's mine by right,"

"Yes, yes, fine," Mila said, waving him off. "Ms.Bree, would you be interested in staying here for a few days?" Mila grinned at Bree as she spoke, "If you can bring back an extinct flower I didn't even know used to exist, I'd love to see what else you can do,"

Bree looked around the Greenhouse and knew she'd be lying if she said she didn't want to spend some time around the school and learn a little more about the world.

"I'll have to appoint a temporary leader to my Kingdom," Bree muttered. "But I don't see why I can't. Just give me until tomorrow, and I can only stay a day; we can find a better window for me to stay a week or two in the future,"

"Sounds perfect to me," She replied with an excited look on her face, "I'll be waiting for you right outside this Greenhouse at 8 Am," She turned to Argit and found he was attempting to pick up the Flower, pot and all.

"You can have the Flower, but I'll be wanting that pot back in one piece; they're enchanted and very expensive," Bree turned away and turned her ring into a staff.

"Come on, Argit," Bree told him, "I'll open a doorway to the Courtyard we fought in, but after that, you're on your own with that Flowe; I have plans to make before tomorrow." 

Bree wished Argit luck before she closed the Doorway and found herself back on her front lawn.

"Mistress," Silver practically screamed from the edge of the bridge; Orion easily outpaced him and pounced on Bree, who withstood the cat's weight easily and let him rub up against her, purring like a motor boat as he did so.

"My Lady, I'm so happy you've returned," Silver eyes began glowing as he called out, "She's back," Bree barely had time to move away from Orion before her followers began surrounding her.

"Yes, I missed you too, Zoey. Who are you again? Oh yes, nice to see Beth. Daisy, leave my ears alone. Minerva, please get Inky off my back. No, Jaden, I can't spar with you right now, but maybe later. No, Manfred, I don't need any Coffee at the moment," After a few chaotic minutes, Bree managed to get her Followers to give her some breathing room.

"Alright, I have bad news and good news, in that order," All of her followers stood ready for the bad news, and Bree knew they weren't going to take it well, "I'll be leaving for most of tomorrow,"

"Again?" Winnie demanded in unison with the rest of her followers, "But my lady, you're a Queen now; surely we should begin developing your country,"

"That's exactly what I'm doing; I'll be visiting a large School and seeing if I can't learn a thing or two about this world while I am there; I'll also be starting up a good relationship with the Kingdom of Maragon, so while I'm away I'm leaving Belin in charge,"

"Me?" Belin demanded in confusion as panic started to set in on his face.

"Of the town," Bree amended; Belin calmed right down with a sigh, "Just do what you used to do; otherwise, Bella and Winnie are to remain in charge of the Mansion until my return," Bree waited until her Followers confirmed they understood before continuing.

"Now, the good news is I won't be going alone, and I'll only be gone for one day. I've picked two of you to come with me," There was a moment of silence before Bree turned and pointed out who would be joining her.

"Olu and Annie,"

"Me?" Annie asked, looking like she would cry if she were able to, "I get to go with you?" 

Olu simply stroked his mustache and nodded, "Unexpected but not unwelcome," He decided with a smile, "Is there a reason for us two being picked?"

"Well, It would be rude of me to demand information and not provide anything in return, as such you will be acting as a visiting Sword instructor for the eighth-year students, I will be acting as the Botanical Teacher of the Eight Years, and Annie will simply be joining me as my maid and bodyguard, simply because something stupidly exciting things seem to happen everywhere I go, and I'd rather have been caution for no reason, then bring no one and get into trouble alone,"

"I am honored that you have chosen me for this job," Annie said with a bow. "I will not fail you, my lady,"

"Calm down," Bree said, patting her head. "Until trouble comes, you'll just be acting as my Maid; you'll stay in the room and watch me. Don't attack anyone unless they hit me or I call out to you. Understood?"

"Yes, my lady," Annie replied without hesitation.

"Well then, it seems I must get some rest," Olu noted as he looked up at the sky. "I'll have some serious work ahead of me tomorrow,"

"Indeed," Annie agreed. "Would you like to rest in our room, my lady?" Annie questioned, "We Promise to wake you up an hour in advance,"

"Well…it would help time go by quicker," Bree muttered. "Fine, but if you can't wake me up politely, Bella is to smack me in the face with her Kanabo, and that's an order; I'm a person who does as they promise, so being late is not an option, understood,"

"Yes, Mistress, we Understand," Everyone replied at once, giving her a salute as they did so.