Demon Queened Ch. 11

My eyes tracked the kitsune's tail as it swayed back and forth. The hallways were full of beautiful paintings, opulent vases, and, of course, gorgeous maids, but my eyes stayed faithfully locked on this girl's tail. Its sway was almost hypnotic and watching it helped soothe my nerves as I was led toward the Demon Queen.

Or at least we were supposed to be going toward Queen Devilla. We weren't walking down the usual hallways. Even distracted by the tail, I could tell that much. After all, I'd walked those hallways countless times, bringing Devilla reports from throughout the tower.

Though maybe "reports" was a bit generous. She could call me the general of the fortieth floor. She could even declare me her spymaster, but it wasn't like I ever brought her any real information. That wasn't my job.

My job was to find out what people thought of the Queen. Every day I found a few spiders to take control of, sent them throughout the tower, and tapped into their senses at random intervals. If I heard someone talking about Devilla, I'd write down what they said on a slip of paper. Then I would push that slip through the slit of a locked wooden box. And once a week, without fail, Devilla would call on me to deliver that box to her throne room. She always had to know what people thought of her, no matter what - even though it was almost always bad.

Except, in the week and a half since Princess Devilla became Queen Devilla, she had yet to call me in even once. The slips of paper were piling up without anyone to read them, to the point where it was becoming an effort to fit more of them inside the box. Not only that, but the stories I heard about Queen Devilla lately were getting... weird.

Oh, there was still a lot of the usual stuff. Ill wishes, angry mutterings about how Queen Devilla didn't care about her people, and a lot of talk about how disappointed Queen Grimmilla would be if she could see her daughter now. And then there was the rumor that Devilla had gotten angry at the sun for outshining her and blasted a giant fireball at it. That really did sound like the Demon Queen I knew.

But then there was strange new gossip thrown into the mix. Like how the Queen had apparently left the tower, and brought home a new type of food? I had trouble wrapping my head around that one. It wasn't like her to do any work, let alone something that could help others, but it was true that a new vegetable had been introduced to the dryads' and goblins' growth rotation. Not only that, the other day salt began to appear in the market in large quantities. The first batch of it went fast, but over the last three days even more had come in and everything pointed to Queen Devilla being the source.

An even less believable rumor said that Queen Devilla had made friends with a servant. It was true that she'd gotten a personal maid, but there was absolutely no way Devilla was friends with the poor thing! In order to befriend someone, you first had to see them as your equal, or at least worthy of your time. I totally agreed with the rumors on this one: Devilla was just bullying a servant into acting like her friend.

What I couldn't figure out was why? Getting food for the tower, publicly treating this servant, Abigail, like she mattered - was the Demon Queen trying to change how people in the tower viewed her? But then why hadn't she ordered me to deliver my findings? Didn't she want to know if her trick was working?

Well, in the end, I wasn't going to get anywhere just wondering about it. That was why I'd chosen to take proactive measures. I'd made my own request to meet the Queen and gotten it approved. Now I was marching down the hallways of the hundred and first floor, on my way to meet her.

In theory. I still didn't recognize where we were.

"We're here," the maid declared, coming to a stop at the end of a hallway. Before me was a thick-looking wooden door, trimmed with gold. It was most definitely not the entrance to the throne room.

"Uh. Where is here, exactly?"

"The queen's bed chambers," the maid replied matter-of-factly, before rapping on the door.

"Wait, what!?" I cried out. I was supposed to meet the queen in her throne room. That was where I always met her! I wouldn't say I was comfortable there, but at least it was familiar territory. How the hell was I supposed to interact with the Queen in her own bedroom?

The doorknob turned before I could get an answer. I hastily put on a smile, ready to meet the personal maid I'd been hearing so much about, but when the door opened, it wasn't a servant standing on the other side.

It was Queen Devilla.

...Or at least it looked like Queen Devilla. She was wearing a lot more than she usually did when I saw her; a green top that fully covered her stomach, and barely showed any cleavage, as well as a black skirt that actually touched her knees. It was a weird look for her, but a quick glance confirmed that everything else about her was the same. Her straight white hair, which was long enough to brush against her well-cushioned ass, was as shiny as ever. Her purple eyes still had that glint of intelligence that I'd never actually seen her put to use. She was even still wearing her favorite pair of open-toed platform heels, colored black to match the tint of her nails. Every general knew that Queen Devilla would never be caught dead in anything less than three-inch heels and that she absolutely hated it when anyone brought up her real height.

"General Araina," she said, greeting me with a strained smile. "I apologize for the informality of our meeting - I'm trying to stick to a schedule."

"It's fine," I assured her, trying to hide my surprise at her apology. It wasn't like the Queen to admit any sort of flaw on her part, but then again, I never thought I'd see her opening her own door, either. What was going on here? "I-I only came by to deliver my weekly reports. They've been building up..."

"Re.... ports." Queen Devilla's eyes flicked to the box I was holding, and then back to me. The smile on her face widened slightly, but seemed even more tense from the effort. "Right. I had managed to completely forget about those... Burn them, would you?"

"B-burn them?" I echoed, my fake smile shattering into an expression of shock.

"That's right. And I'm ordering you to stop with surveillance while you're at it. I'm afraid I need to give some serious thought to your position..."

"S-stop the surveillance?" I mumbled back, barely able to form the words. What was happening? Was this part of the Queen's attempt to change her image? Had she come to the conclusion that a spymaster would only make her appear more deceitful?

But what about me? I needed this job. It was all I had left! My friends all abandoned me when it came out that I was spying on our people. Even the girl I was dating at the time called me scum to my face and broke up with me. I was probably the second least popular demon in the tower, all because Queen Devilla pressured me into taking this position.

And now I was at risk of losing it? It felt like my world was spinning. There was a tightness in my chest and this weird churning in my stomach. Queen Devilla was still speaking, but I could no longer hear her. The only thing going through my head was that I was about to lose everything.

"I... I need to get out of here," I murmured, backing up from the door.

"Are you alright?" Queen Devilla asked, frowning up at me. "Do you need healing?" Did she really think she could just pretend to be concerned, and everything would work out fine? That I would fall for whatever trick she was trying to play on the masses? I knew her too well for that.

"I'm fine," I lied. "Peachy. Great!" I spun away before the tears could spring from my eyes, and raced down the hallway, not bothering to wait for the kitsune maid.

***

"You're sure you have everything?" Abigail badgered. "The gems you wanted to sell? The emergency food supplies? Your tent?"

"I have everything," I promised, trying not to roll my eyes. Abigail was only acting this way out of concern for me, after all. As strong as I was, even I might run into trouble while all alone in human territory. If I was being absolutely honest, I was perhaps a touch nervous myself.

Still, this was a journey that had to be undertaken. My people had been pushed to the brink of extinction thanks to the humans' war against us. Our only chance at survival was making peace, and our only chance at doing that was to make a connection with the Heroine.

Technically, I still had three days left before my promised date with Lucy. I could stay and relax in the tower for a little bit longer if I wanted to, but I preferred to try and grasp the lay of the land before our meeting. Besides, I needed to make a pit stop before heading to Rendra City.

"What about teleportation magic?" Abigail pressed. "Have you mastered it?"

"Enough to cast the spell, at least," I assured her with a smile. It felt good knowing I'd no longer have to depend on others to activate the circles for me. "I've already set up a teleportation ring in my closet. Though, actually, I'm not sure it's completely necessary to have one. There are some things I'd like to try out when I have a moment."

"Devilla," Abigail said, her tone flat. She narrowed her pitch-black eyes at me. "Please tell me you aren't planning to mess around with magic that bends the very fabric of reality!?"

"Well, it sounds a lot more dangerous when you put it that way..."

"Devilla! No experimenting with teleportation magic! What if you end up trapped on the other side of Solla, or something?"

"I suppose I'd have to figure out what went wrong and try again."

"Be serious!" Abigail snapped, pointing angrily at me. "What do you think will happen to the rest of us if you just disappear like that? There are no guarantee things will go like they did in your 'game,' you know. We could all end up getting wiped out without you!"

"I wasn't entirely joking... But I do understand your point. I'll keep to traditional teleportation magic so long as I have a choice."

"Why doesn't that make me feel any better?" Abigail complained, cradling her head in her hands.

I was spared the need to answer by a knock at the door. Likely Araina, spymaster general of the fortieth floor. I wasn't sure what she wanted, but since she'd gone through the trouble of requesting an official audience with me, it was probably important.

Usually, I would meet a visiting general in my throne room, but I had yet to sit in that massive chair since officially becoming queen. While I used to perch there without a care in the world, I was now all too aware of the heavy responsibilities it represented and my own inadequacies in meeting them. I was hoping to avoid any official audiences in that room until I felt worthy of it.

I waved away Bailey, who was sniffing at the bottom of the door and turned the handle. I found myself staring into the blue eyes of a red-haired kitsune; one of my maids from her uniform. Possibly a new hire? I didn't recall seeing her before, but it was just as likely that she was a long-time employee I never really bothered to note the features of. Yet another thing to correct...

In any case, my current concern was the eight-legged woman standing behind the maid. She was an arachne: a woman with the upper body of a human and the bottom half of a spider. She was a sandy blonde, with kind-looking yellow eyes and rosy cheeks. She had a somewhat delicate, even dainty figure, with gently sloping curves and small breasts that were just barely big enough to fill one's hands. Not that I could see them beneath the sky blue blouse she wore, but, for better or worse, the image of her naked body was burned into my memories both from my recent coronation and from Jacob's memories of Tower Conquest.

And then there was her spider half. Where her upper form was pale, her lower carapace was almost pure black, except for a single white dot in the center of her upper side. It was a large, wide form that filled most of the hallway, in stark contrast to the small humanoid figure that sat where a normal spider's head would be.

"General Araina," I greeted her, smiling. Araina was doing the same, but her smile looked frozen in place as if she'd received a great shock. Well, not that I could say much about my own. I didn't have a lot of fond memories associated with any of my generals. "I apologize for the informality of our meeting - I'm trying to stick to a schedule."

Her eyes widened, and her smile came unstuck. "It's fine," she assured me. "I-I only came by to deliver my weekly reports. They've been building up..."

"Re... ports." I glanced at the wooden box she was clutching against her chest. I knew exactly what was in it, and it wasn't anything good. I forced myself to smile a bit wider, trying to hide my distaste for my past self's ego. "Right. I had managed to completely forget about those... Burn them, would you?"

That box contained nothing but negativity. I would destroy it myself, but I really did have to finish running things through with Abigail if I was going to leave today and to be honest, I didn't trust myself not to peek at the contents. I had already spent far too many nights locked in my room, breaking my self-esteem by reading exactly what other people thought of me. I didn't need to return to such self-destructive habits.

"B-burn them?" Araina repeated, looking surprised.

"That's right. And I'm ordering you to stop with surveillance while you're at it. I'm afraid I need to give some serious thought to your position..."

"S-stop the surveillance?" she mumbled back, barely audible even to my impressive hearing.

"You don't need to worry about your job, of course," I tried to reassure her. "But I do need to rethink your duties. I believe you were originally interested in joining the arachne communication relay? Perhaps I could put you in charge of that, or something similar."

"I... I need to get out of here," Araina murmured, backing away from me.

"Are you alright?" I asked, frowning. "Do you need healing?" She looked pale, even sickly; not exactly common for demons, who couldn't normally get ill if they tried.

"I'm fine," she insisted. "Peachy. Great!" Then she spun away and skittered down the hall.

"...If you'll excuse me," the kitsune maid dropped into a curtsy before turning to follow Araina.

I didn't bother responding, but simply stared down the hallway Araina had run through. It was obvious that I'd upset the woman, though I wasn't sure how. I would have thought her happy to be relieved of spying on her own people. It wasn't a job she'd ever sought out, and if she hadn't been buried in debt when I first met her, I doubt she would have accepted the position at all. I certainly hadn't made things easy on her, considering I made no effort to hide who was doing my spying.

Something odd was going through that girl's head. It didn't seem like she was in the mood to discuss it, but I'd have to find some time to talk to her soon. I did hope she wouldn't do anything stupid in the meantime, such as trying to peek in on me or Abigail. There were, of course, countermeasures against spider spying, but if I had to go that far then we already had a serious problem.

Perhaps it was best that I warn her away? Just in case? Though if she wasn't planning anything after all, that would only make things more awkward.

Then what about a warning she'd only come across if she tried spying? That was a bit more clever. Some sort of spider repellant, perhaps? My human mother, back when I was still Jacob, had been terrible with spiders. If I remembered correctly, she had a trick to keep them away. It wouldn't stop one under the direct control of an arachne of course, but if she came across something that was obviously meant as a deterrent, then Araina would likely get the message.

"Abigail?" I called out, closing the door. "While I'm gone, could you perhaps lay down some peppermint oil?"

***

My black wings beat against the air, stirring up dust on the dirt road as I slowed my descent enough to touch down. Getting ready had taken a little longer than anticipated, mostly because of Abigail. My loyal maid absolutely insisted on reviewing everything with me, from the items I planned to carry to the backstory I would give anyone who asked. She also took great pains to warn me against drawing attention to myself, as if that wasn't a given. Personally, I didn't think it would be much of an issue. The heroine was bound to attract far more attention than a nameless traveler in her company.

Somehow that didn't do much to relieve Abigail's worries, and in the end I wasn't able to fully banish her fears no matter how much I reassured her. Still, if going over things managed to help even a little then I considered it time well spent.

I'd landed just as the sun was beginning to set, the timing of which worked out in my favor. With the light of day leaving them behind, most humans would be wrapping up their work by now. That hopefully meant Lissera would be free to deal with me.

I dismissed my wings and made my way on foot past the outer wall which surrounded the fields. I didn't see anyone working them, so it seemed that my assumption about work hours was more or less correct. Humans didn't have the same night vision we demons boasted, after all.

When I reached the inner wall, I reached through the barred gate to undo the latch and stepped inside without a moment's hesitation. A few people, walking down the street as I entered the town, turned to look at me with suspicion as I navigated their simple security measures. One of the villagers, a blue-haired young man with green eyes, said something. The fickle wind blew most of his words in the wrong direction, but I was fairly certain I heard the name 'Eena' mentioned. After that, the stares seemed to change, shifting from suspicion to gentler, if no less intense, curiosity. Perhaps my reputation preceded me?

I smiled politely, then began to walk away. Abigail's warning aside, it was a little late for me to avoid drawing attention in this town. I didn't want to attract more of it than needed, though, especially with my disguise in its current state. We didn't have ready stores of hair dye in the tower, and I wouldn't have been able to secure any without drawing questions. As such, I was simply using a spell to make my tresses appear brown. I had plenty of magic left in me, and there was little risk of me dropping the spell by accident, but there was always a chance that something would catch me off guard. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't cast any other magic while I was maintaining this spell.

A few more people's gazes swung towards me as I made my way down the street, but I did my best not to make eye contact with any of them. Fortunately for me, Lissera's home was close to the outer wall. Unfortunately for me, the small size of the town meant that word of my arrival was spreading quickly. Instead of suspicious glares or surprised looks, I was getting friendly waves. I was used to being recognized, but it was a little strange to see recognition repeatedly turn to happiness instead of revulsion. My cheeks were starting to tinge pink under the attention.

I ducked my head down and pretended not to notice. Even when someone called out to me, I refused to turn around. If anything I picked up my pace, knowing I was only a few steps away from Lissera's home and my own safety. The voice had come from some distance away in any case, so it was easy enough to pretend I hadn't heard it, but even as I stepped up to the house I heard the sound of hurried footsteps as someone raced after me, apparently desperate for my attention.