Chapter 22: First Impressions of the Demon Realm

A/N :

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

{ }: Parallel Wills,

« » : Artificial Intelligence,

// // : W System announcement,

: Majutsu/Conjuring usage.(Using MA energy for skills, spells, etc.)

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Dante POV

It's been a day since the demise of humanity's strongest and we've finally arrived in Demon Country. Contrary to what one might expect when they hear a place being described as the land of demons, it looks normal. Normal buildings, no horns or wings on the people, no miasma in the air or cursed plants slithering about on the ground. The only thing that could be seen as strange is the variety of colors their hair comes in. While humans do have more hair colors here than on Earth, with there being natural white hair, red hair, black, blonde, brown and even blue hair, demons have got way more.

In the first town alone, we've already seen over a dozen hair colors apart from those listed above, with people sporting different shades purple, green, orange, teal, maroon and pink hair colors. There was also another thing we were able to see that made demons differ from humans, and that is their innately superior stats when compared to humans.

But not all of us were able to accept this as quickly as Sophia was still making a displeased face. Realistically, with the fact that the Demon Country is as close to the Renxandt Empire as it is, with them essentially being neighbors, the similarities between them should have been expected.

"You're surprised, aren't you? Despite what some people think, demons don't really look any different from humans. Wrath over here is proof of that, since onis are counted as demons, the only thing that makes him stand out so blatantly are his horns." Ariel explains to Sophia in demon language, which we've all learned over the past few weeks.

"If they look so similar, then what exactly is the difference between them?" Sophia asks curiously. "There are actually substantial differences between demons and humans. The biggest one being their lifespan. Demons live for a far longer time than humans, although not as long as elves." As she mentions the elves, Sophia scowls with a clear hatred for them.

"They also have higher stat growth than humans, as if a demon and a human at the same stat level did the same training, the demon would usually gain more stats from the training than the human." Sophia's brow furrows as she thinks of the implications of this fact. "If all of the differences are in favor of the demons, doesn't that mean that the humans don't stand a chance of winning if a war were to break out?" She asks.

The question she asked would have been an actual possibility, if not for one teensy little trait that is basically a balance patch for demons. "Despite all of their advantages, demons have quite the low birth rate, so their population is far smaller than that of humans. This, I could say, is their only weakness." Ariel explains. That explanation is a valid one in this case, where the demons don't have members that are overwhelmingly powerful, so they can't overcome the sheer numbers that humans have. It's too bad for the humans that their numbers would be useless by the time the war starts.

"And right now, the demons are experiencing a population crisis, so much of their infrastructure and military potential is non-existent due to the fact that they do not have enough manpower. Not that it's really an issu for me." Ariel says. «Boss, some people are here looking for Ariel.» Aurora says and I tell her to let them in.

"Pardon me." One of them says. I give him a cursory glance to analyze him. He's an aging man, wearing an eye patch and what would easily pass for military attire worn by commanders that also happen to be made of considerably high quality material. I easily understand that I am looking at Agner Ricep, future Commander of the the Demon Lord's First Demon Army and Potimas' informant, as he constantly leaks information about Ariel to Potimas.

He comes in with some attendants and they all kneel in front of Ariel. "We have eagerly anticipated your return." He says with a hand on his chest in salute. "Yeah, thanks." She casually responds to his greeting, which doesn't cause a reaction in Agner, but his attendants don't seem to like that as they're all twitching in anger. "Well, I guess I'll introduce you to everyone. Guys, this is Agner, the lord in charge of this area of the demon realm, and since the place borders human lands, he's basically the ruler of the frontier. This guy's an old timer among demons and a skilled commander who's been fending off human invasions for ages." She says casually, causing some of his attendants to ball up fists in rage.

"All right, stand and introduce yourself. She says to him. "Of course, my lord." He says without the slightest bit of displeasure on his face, a perfect act. Too bad for him, I've already read his mind and seen what he's done. He's definitely competent at his job, but his actions are going to be harmful to our plans. "Thank you for the generous introduction. I am called Agner Ricep. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He says with a stiff bow.

"So, what is your reason for coming to see me?" Ariel says, different from her happy-go-lucky attitude that she has with us, and it seems that everyone noticed. Most people would forget that Ariel has been alive for millennia if they only looked at her interactions with us, but when it's needed, her mindset and dignity as the leader and mother of an entire race of monsters shows.

Unconsciously gulping down a mouthful of saliva upon noticing the change in atmosphere around Ariel, he returns to his kneeling position. "Pardon me! The moment I heard that you had returned to our land, I hurried here to greet you. I beg your forgiveness for intruding upon your personal time, but I felt it would be far more disrespectful not to show my face as your faithful retainer." Seriously, this guy's really getting into the act. "I see. Your intentions are appreciated. Sorry for interrupting your work. Me and my entourage will be only staying here until tomorrow night, then we will head to the heartland. I do have something to speak with you about, so I will need your time tomorrow morning." She says as she swirls her cup of wine. "Understood, my lord." He says, as if his schedule is actually free.

From the reaction I see from his attendants, his schedule isn't that free. "Good. You may return." He salutes her once more and stands to leave. "Then I shall take my leave at once. Please relax to your heart's content." He says and leaves, being followed by his attendants.

As he leaves, she sighs, as if the conversation itself tired her out. Meanwhile Sophia is looking at her incredulously. "So that's what it's like to have power and influence." She mutters while reevaluating her image of Ariel. "Add wealth to that and no one would dare to try and annoy you." Ariel says with a smirk, then downs another cup of wine.

"By the way, what do you think of that person?" Ariel asks the room. "You want the abridged version or the full version of my answer?" I ask her as I inspect the Domina's fleet. "The abridged version, please." I nod and begin speaking. "I read their minds and looked into their memories and found a few interesting things. Firstly, most if not all of them dislike you to pretty high degrees, but none like that woman. As for Agner, he's a full blown mole. He's been giving info about your time in the demon realm to Potimas, hell he's probably going in to tell him that we're already here in demon realm." I tell her and her eyes become cold.

"Listen, I already know that we aren't going to get all that close with them, so I know that their feelings about us don't matter. But if we don't at least make them reluctantly accept, then using them as soldiers when it comes to it will also become a problem. Besides, as the Demon Lord, you're already going to take all their hatred upon yourself, so what's one tyrannical action or two gonna do to an already bad image." I say and she nods in understanding.

Eventually the night of the next day comes, and we leave the Ricep Dominion, the borderlands, and head deeper into Demon Country. Some hours pass and we finally arrived at the Demon Lord's castle. Despite what one would expect of a Demon Lord's castle, it isn't some gothic, all black castle of doom. Rather it is gorgeous, so much so that it would be seen as a World Heritage Site on Earth. Not to mention, there's even a castle town. But like all castles during times of international strife, it has an imposingly large fortress wall around its outermost perimeter, which is expected, given the monster attacks and invasions from other nations.

We eventually reach our destination, a fancy manor close to the castle, which disgruntles Sophia, but only for an instant, as her eyes shine with awe at the manor that just oozes luxury. We are received by the head butler and are brought to some guest rooms where we'll be staying until the master of the house, who also happens to be a Duke, returns.

"Okay, then. Let's lay out our plans for the future before the master of the house gets back." Ariel says and we let her know that we're listening. "Firstly, once I meet the master of the house, I'll be moving to the castle. Ael, Ella, Siel and Merazophis will follow me." Sophia's teeth grit audibly at the mention of Merazophis leaving her, even if temporary.

Her yandere problem, as Shiro calls it has been acting up a lot more recently, even to the point of causing her Jealousy skill to shoot up in level. But she won't be Sophia if she wasn't unhealthily obsessed with her butler.

"Everyone else will live here. As for you, Sophia, I will assign a private tutor to you and have you go to school when you're old enough." As she says this, Sophia's scowl grows even darker. "Skip on the private tutor, I'll teach her after training time." I tell Ariel and she agrees. Ariel's main goal through all this is to help Sophia lessen her yandere tendencies, despite the fact that such a mission is a lost cause.

"By the way, could you and Shiro make some high-defense clothes using your threads? I tested out your old threads and they were impossible for me to break, so I know that they would have gotten far stronger in that time, so please help me out with them." Shiro and I speedily talk about it telepathically and agree to make clothes only using our threads and nothing more. So there will be no enchantments, nanomachines or anything of the like in the clothes to increase its functionality.

After receiving out agreement to basically help her make armor from our threads, she turns to the puppets. "Sael, Fael, you two will be Sophia's bodyguards." Sophia still looks unhappy about the arrangements made regarding her, but she grudgingly accepts it, even with her hand gripping particularly tightly on her greatsword. "*Sigh*, This is gonna be an annoying bit of time." I say to myself before laying on the couch and closing my eyes.

Chapter End.

Yes the chapter this time is a lot shorter, mainly because this period had a lot of talking just going around, and it's probably going to be the same way for the next few chapters, but don't worry, an eventful chapter will be released within the next five chapters at the most, so stay tuned and have a nice day.