It took a while but I finally found Adele’s presence, it was inside a small and somewhat rundown apartment complex, surprised it’s still standing given how decrepit it looks, I entered but there was no one inside, at least I couldn’t pick up anyone but Adele, and the reception with dust collected told me I was probably right, I entered the room where Adele was and lo and behold, she’s just moving piles of books around.

  “Marisa?”

  “Adele, what are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to find and organize my research papers, among other things”

  “I-I see...”

  “What happened, is everything ok? It’s weird that you come to visit! How did you find my pce anyways?”

  “I followed your scent, uh, it’s nothing just, you said you would come back today but didn’t and well, I got worried”

  “Oh, how te is it? Night already!!?”

  She said opening a curtain, yeah, the sun set already, it’s...

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t realize the day was over already?...”

  “N-no! Sorry, I got lost in my books, and the other corpses”

  “Other corpses?”

  “Did you not realize it? I took the b experiments from the church after parting ways yesterday”

  She beckoned me to follow her and indeed, the tubes and children are all installed here in another apartment...

  “Tell me about these things beforehand!”

  “I thought you knew, that’s what I was implying when I left the pace yeste-two days ago!”

  “I thought you mostly wanted to rest! Sigh... it’s fine, better them with you than someone else, and the rest of the research?”

  “I’m digging through their library, it might take time”

  “I see, well the knights are investigating as well, if they find anything I will bring it to you then”

  “Thank you Marisa, I will also report anything I find!”

  “About the piggy, do I bring him here?”

  “I... kinda am busy at the moment, can you keep him around for now, I will go pick him up when I need him”

  “Ok, I’m not a nanny but, I think I can find him work to do in the meantime, what’s with the decrepit pce by the way?”

  “It was my first apartment! Many, many years ago, then my neighbor left and I bought the one next door for extra space. Before I knew it, I was the owner of the building!”

  “Pff!! Sounds about right, at least clean the pce dear, it’s kinda dusty”

  Adele got red as a beet, and just said ‘un’ rather embarrassed, I guess she didn’t expect any visits? She tends to get lost in cloud nine with her hobbies, reminds me a lot of Rushka in that sense, I’m sure they would become best friends if they interacted a bit more.

  Anyways, new day, and we’re still going strong with our work.

  The construction begun, demolishing the pce wasn’t as difficult, and now with the wood and other materials, everyone started working, we’re currently on the rgest orphanage, since we can use the empty terrain to start making carpenter tables and other useful things, before sending them to the small orphanage, since there won’t be much working space there.

  “Ok you two, get on it”

  “Right away!”

  Az, her name it’s too long. I'm calling her by the nickname she gave me, went right away with work, and began helping the other men at stripping logs or other things like that.

  “Why me?”

  The piggy lord, who I recently found out was called Gwendal, maybe they told me but I forgot, anyways, I’m calling her Gwen now since calling her piggy would be awkward with people around and her current body.

  “Because I said so, now get to it”

  “Tch! Fine!”

  Whatever, she can do fine I want to believe, there’s other kids helping as well, since not everyone wished to stay back at the pace. We actually got enough manpower to start 3 orphanages at the same time instead of my original pn of 2, expediting the process.

  More so since Rushka came by in the morning with news, apparently she sent a letter to her father, and now the dwarves will send us people and some tools and materials to build, I told her that there wasn’t any need, we could do it by ourselves, but she just said that ‘you helped my country when we were most desperate, let us help you back’ and well, I can’t say no to my beautiful wife.

  She and Heather are taking care of all the political stuff while I’m gone.

  And Heather’s first prototype limbs are finally here, she apparently tried them already but they're janky, and work with magic, something that Heather doesn’t know, so it’s gonna be a long learning curve for wireless limbs, still, slow and steady.

  Just like work as well, building is exponentially faster with me around given my super human abilities, I’m helping with heavy lifting and other sort of odd jobs here and there.

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Gwendal’s POV***

  Helping right? Seriously what’s up with Marisa, how am i gonna do anything with a body like this!?

  They should’ve at least put me in the body of an adult dammit!

  For now I went with the other crazy chick with the wings, they’re taking the bark off a tree, but they’re using sharp rocks, are you serious!? Shouldn’t we at least have some tools?

  Sigh, no point in compining, I took a rock and tried to help.

  “Ouch!”

  Ah! I fucking cut myself! It’s not that bad but it hurts a lot for some reason, there’s some blood coming out, this is what happens when you use pointy rocks! Can’t we-

  “Oh my! Are you ok hun?”

  Eh? What’s her deal? A random dy came by and asked me with a very concerned face, while on her knees.

  “I’m ok”

  “But what are you doing dear, you shouldn’t be working wood, it’s too dangerous!”

  “She’s right, don’t you want to go to the pace with the other kids?”

  Ugh, I really don’t want to be here, but then I remember that bitch of Marisa telling me that I shouldn’t disturb the people working and her threats of what she will do if I’m not helping!

  ‘If they ask, you’re here completely out of your own volition, got it’

  My own volition my ass, this is svery! I’ll just ask them for help, not like that bitch will hurt the orphanage people, this is perfect!

  All I have to say is that Marisa is forcing me and they’ll turn against her!

  “I-I want to help...”

  Ah! What’s with me!! That’s not what I wanted to say! I have no clue why but fear paralyzed me for a moment!

  “Aww, but it’s too dangerous baby, you shouldn’t do this”

  Marisa it’s gonna fucking blow my kneecaps! I have no choice.

  “Still! I’ll help”

  ...

  ...

  Or so was my intention but, I went with the people nailing things, and as soon as I grabbed a hammer more people stopped me, same with the saws, or rather, sharp rocks attached to a wooden stick, still they didn’t let me exactly help.

  Everyone just tells me something on the line of ‘you shouldn’t be doing this’ and then sends me away.

  Sigh... now what?

  As I sat down since I had nothing to do, that bitch of Marisa came by.

  “Working hard?”

  “Shut it, I tried to help but no one let me”

  “Hmm... true, I don’t see anyone letting a 5 year old using construction equipment or tools”

  “Then what’s the point of being here! I’ll just go back to the pace”

  “Hey, not so fast, you want something to do, here”

  Then she handed me a bucket...

  “Go to the well and bring water for the workers”

  “What!? Like an errand boy or something!?”

  “Errand girl, yes, actually that’s a good idea, go around carrying things, that sounds like a good job for your current self”

  “How dare you! I’ll have you know I’m...”

  “You’re what?”

  “I’m... sigh... fine! I’ll do it! I hate you so much, I hope you die in a hole!”

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Back to Marisa***

  Seriously that piggy, maybe he’s right, forcing her to bor in that body sounds inconvenient, still, better than letting her just watch paint dry.

  “Excuse me, Midy”

  “Eh? Yes, what is it?”

  The guy from the orphanage that refused our help at first approached me, the same one that was weird and hugged me for no reason.

  “I don’t mean to pry but, aren’t you being too harsh on that girl? Do you know her from somewhere?”

  “Oh yes! it’s... complicated”

  “Even so, you shouldn’t treat kids like that, I don’t see you doing it without a reason but, it’ll look bad”

  “People already bel me as ‘bad’ from the start, and she’s no child, she’s technically older than even you”

  “Wait really!?”

  “Yes, as I said it’s... complicated, just don’t mind her, and if you can keep her working that’s better”

  “Working...”

  “Nothing heavy, I just want her to reflect, if you feel bad for her, just remember this is punishment”

  “What did she do? Steal food or something?”

  “Uff! if that were the case I wouldn’t have as much issues, Just so you have peace of mind, she’s as guilty as that angel I have sving away”

  “That sounds unlikely”

  “Well it’s the true, let’s not eborate any further”

  “R-right...”

  ...

  ...

  “Marisa!”

  “Eh?”

  Rushka and Heather came rushing towards me at the construction site!

  “Wait, who's in the pace right now?”

  “Uh...”

  “Pff! It’s fine, don’t worry about it, what is it?”

  “We have good and bad news”

  “What a way to phrase it Rushka, there’s an emergency with-”

  “Wait Heather, you’re always so serious, let’s hear Rushka out since I’m sure you’ll just tell me the ‘bad’ news”

  “It’s-”

  “Heather’s right, it’s important! But the good news it’s that the dwarves are arriving in the afternoon with the tools and materials promised”

  “Oh that’s good news! Ok, now the other one”

  “The neighboring town it’s invading us”

  “...what?”

  “Zeke, the town lord to the south it’s advancing his troops to our territory”

  “Oh but he hasn’t crossed the border yet right?”

  “That’s correct, he is setting camp at the border though”

  “Then I’ll go talk with him, if push comes to shove I’ll just raze his army”

  “Marisa...”

  “I’ll be fine, thanks for the info!”

  And like that, I dashed south to the border, and indeed, the shitty town lord from that other meeting was among those soldiers making camp. I for one went to meet him, even if I’m the one trespassing territory.

  “Demon! Are you here to decre war by crossing our border?”

  “I can say the same thing, bringing such a rge army to my doorstep”

  “Hmm, well it was our pn but, that won’t be necessary now that you’re here!”

  “Eh?”

  “Get her my troops! Let’s vanquish the demon lord ourselves!”

  “Hey shithead, if you attack me like that I will retaliate, even if it’s your nd”

  “CHARGE!!”

  Sigh... A beating it is!

  ...

  ...

  “Done?”

  “You monster! Do you enjoy pying with our pride!?”

  “What, would you rather me kill them all, look I’m not in the mood! what do you want?”

  “Us!? To end your reign of evildoing! Don’t py dumb with me! You finally killed lord Gwendal!”

  “Ah, well he died but-”

  “And we heard rumors of the orphanages in your nd burning down, don’t py dumb with me! You said it yourself! you’ll use them as a sacrifice!!”

  I couldn’t help but facepalm, me and my stupid jokes coming back to bite my ass...

  “Yeah, look, I know it looks sketchy but it really wasn’t me I-“

  “As if I’d believe any word you say monster!”

  “Look-”

  “We may fall here today! But we’ll take you down one day! For it is our justice to prevail!”

  “Would you stop swinging your sword and listen I-”

  “ENOUGH YOU TWO!”

  A resounding and imposing voice stopped the bickering between me and the useless town lord.

  “Your majesty...”

  “Arthur”

  “Enough fighting, there’s more pressing issues, you two dismiss your troops and I’ll meet you at the royal pace!”

  “Your majesty! You couldn’t possibly be on this wench side!”

  “Enough Zeke! Did you not hear what I said?”

  “Y-yes your majesty!”

  Holy, I have never seen Arthur this angry, still, I can’t just go MIA for long, I need to go back home!

  “Whatever Arthur, I don’t have much time, what is it?”

  “A town lord meeting, this is all thanks to you so you better show up”

  This is the first time he raised his voice against me, is it that serious? It still doesn’t feel right, I will threaten him ter for it.

  “I don’t have much time, is everyone already there?”

  “Yes, you two are the only ones missing that didn’t respond to the messenger!”

  There was an official calling? How come it didn’t reach my ears, maybe it got lost amidst the myriad of people in the pace.

  “Then let’s go”

  I teleported us three to the pace.

  ...

  “Your majesty”

  And everyone bowed again, this is getting repetitive and-

  “Everyone please raise your head, this is important”

  “Of course”

  “So what is it?”

  I asked, nonchantly, I’m in a hurry so.

  “You, that’s what happened, rather I want you to give us a recap of the situation at your pce? We now have the church angry at our doorstep, and other countries getting ready for ‘crusades’”

  “Wait really? Those church people are a pain, in reality-”

  “Do we really need an expnation!? It’s obvious that it’s this demon’s fault!”

  “Zeke! I did not allow you to speak! Please refrain from opening your mouth for now!”

  Gosh dang, I never saw Arthur this pissed.

  “Ahem, as I was saying...”

  And I proceeded to tell them my story, about the orphanages, the church, the tragedy of that night and everything else.

  “And that’s the gist of it”

  Well, almost everything, I’ll keep the piggy’s situation to me for now. Besides, his corpse is real and buried as well.

  “Right, well it does match up with the information I was given...”

  “I can’t believe the people of the church would do that”

  “What about in our territory?”

  “I-“

  “Seriously!?”

  Zeke it’s loud as always.

  “Are we seriously considering the ramblings of a demon? It’s obvious she’s lying!”

  “Well Zeke, what proof do you have that she is?”

  “She took her pce as a town lord by force, do you need any more proof of her wickedness?”

  “Zeke, she didn’t take it, I handed it to her!”

  “Your majesty, it’s-”

  “Enough Zeke, now that I know the context, I can make a proper judgement”

  “So what now?”

  “The church has been off to something sneaky from a while back, this only confirms my suspicions...”

  “You knew about it and you didn’t do anything!?”

  “Marisa, the kingdom it’s woven to the religious organization since its founding, it’s not like we can just shove them around”

  “Why is everyone so obsessed with the church?”

  “Hmm... you should know it since it probably involves you but, when the demon lord conquered the world, and then was stopped by queen Hestia and her followers, it was the church who ended up responsible for seeing the flourishing of the different countries”

  “Really? I thought that was my mom, or the so called heroes”

  “The heroes helped, as for queen Hestia, the history books says that she simply resigned and no one saw her again after the war”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes, every single city in the world respect the church, which it’s the more of a reason why this is so urgent, they’re asking for your head, or we risk being beled as supporters of the demon lord”

  “So that’s how it is”

  “Then the answer it’s obvious, your majesty! We have to kill her and-“

  “Oh! You want to fight! I’m not in the mood Zeke! I will make you regret being born if you continue attacking me like this!”

  “You two! Please, let’s be civil about this”

  “Tch...”

  “Sigh... and so I gather everyone here in a hurry, what it’s everyone’s take on this”

  “Eh?”

  “Yes, should we support Marisa and rebel against the church, or give her away and risk her wrath”

  “You say that like I’m pnning on massacring all of you or something”

  “We wouldn’t know, how would you feel if we stabbed your back?”

  “You’re not doing that, you’re being clear of your situation, how could I possibly be mad, still, losing the support of being part of a big country would be troubling, I couldn’t afford to be amicable anymore, at the slightest threat the answer will be more than obvious”

  “I understand, so I ask the town lords again, what’s your side on the situation”

  “What about you, your majesty?”

  “I’ll refrain from answering, for a king’s duty it’s to look after the interest of his people, and I believe in the judgement of all of you, as representatives of your own towns”

  “You!? I don’t believe you, the man who was willing to sacrifice a city, something doesn’t add up”

  I don’t get it, he’s not lying but I can’t see him blindly following what the other guys decide and-

  “Oh!”

  “Nothing escapes you huh? Marisa, please refrain from saying anything”

  “Tch, this is why I hate you so much”

  ...

  “I’m with Marisa! If it weren’t for her, we would still be at war, she helped us more than the church anyways”

  “I’m against it, I simply can’t fathom the consequences of going against the church”

  “Me too, we can’t simply change faith so quickly”

  “Me three”

  “Well I’m with Marisa”

  “Same as me”

  And like that, the town lords, me excluded, casted their votes, the results, quite cliche.

  8 with me, 8 against me, isn’t there an extra town lord now that I pay attention?

  “It’s a tie...”

  “Not really, I’m a town lord too, so I obviously vote for myself”

  “Like hell we’ll let you vote! Plus if that’s the case then the king shall be the one to define this tie”

  “The king said he wasn’t going to vote”

  “I didn’t intended to but-“

  “Ha, as if”

  I ughed, I caught what he said, ‘I believe in the judgement of all of you’ it’s true, he believes that they’re capable people but, this doesn’t mean he’ll just go with the majority.

  “You had your answer ever since we entered the room”

  “Yes Marisa, that’s true, but I wanted to know the opinion of the people, in order to see the possible infighting”

  “Then?”

  “Let’s face it, our vote it’s pointless if the king votes too”

  “It’s the reason why I didn’t go first”

  “Spit it Arthur, what it’s gonna be?”

  “I’m with you Marisa, I pnned on getting rid of the church sooner or ter, this just accelerates things”

  “Your majesty!”

  “It’s my final answer”

  He said, getting next to me.

  “So I ask you again, I don’t want to force you but I want you to reevaluate your vote, are you sure about this?”

  “I stand by my choice, your majesty!”

  “I... I don’t know!”

  This continued for a while, in the end only 2 people changed their votes, and now there’s only 6 people against.

  “Well then, I’m sorry it came to this, but I can’t let anyone leave without an unanimous decision”

  After Arthur snapped his fingers, the guards locked the doors and blocked them with their spears.

  “I hate to do this but, you’ll have to choose, whether to change your mind, or be arrested for treason”

  “Your majesty!”

  “It’s a delicate situation, I can’t let any loose ends nor waver, if we’re to survive as a kingdom”

  “Is that so, I’m sorry your majesty but you trusted in me, to help you make decisions on this country and I can’t help but feel like you’re taking the wrong choice, my conviction it’s unchanged, I refuse to waver as well”

  The dy town lord then pced her wrists, making a gesture of wanting to be imprisoned.

  “I want to remain, to help you once you realize your mistakes your highness, or see with my own eyes how wrong I was”

  “Charlie, very well, I will listen to your wishes, and I’m eternally grateful for your loyalty”

  And like that, a guard took the dy somewhere.

  “As for the rest of you?”

  “Well, I rather not lose my position, although I’m sure you’ll keep us in check probably”

  “Sharp as always”

  “I’m against helping the spawn of the demon lord, but I also have a resentment towards the church, I can’t agree with your choice, but for the time being, until we sort the church out, I’ll cooperate”

  “Have you guys lost your mind!?”

  “Zeke...”

  “If it came to this, then I have no other choice”

  Zeke then pulled his sword.

  “I’ll stick to what I think it’s right, even if it costs me my life!”

  How brave, oh wait, me!? Why are you attacking me!?

  “Enough!”

  I said, angrily, and then pnted his face to the ground.

  Is he still alive? Who knows, for now he and the other town lord got arrested.

  “This is getting nowhere...”

  And I am also in a hurry!

  “Marisa was it? Answer me this, what 's your reason for doing all of this?”

  “Eh? Reason?”

  “Yes, why did you want to rule? What are you trying to achieve?”

  “That’s... deep, I don’t know, I guess I don’t have a particur reason but, I guess for now I realize that we won’t have a peaceful life if I don’t act, so I’m doing all I can to make that peaceful life realize”

  In reality, the answer is only partially true, I want peace but also, the position of power facilitates having fun without the hassle of certain aspects, although I’m seeing it’s even more problems than what is worth it seems.

  “Hmm... peace, an odd choice of words for a demon, still, I guess I could get behind that”

  In the end everyone agreed with me, except for those other 2.

  “Then what’s the pn?”

  “For now we’ll have to hide Marisa, maybe we could-”

  “Wait!”

  “What is it Marisa?”

  “How did the church singled me out as the responsible for the attack on the church? Wasn’t I anonymous?”

  “That’s, hmm...”

  “Did you speak with anyone from the church?”

  “No, they sent an official letter, but they did name you specifically, now that you mention it, it’s odd...”

  “Think about it, no one that isn’t imprisoned knew the behind the scenes of what happened that night”

  “Perhaps father Ecir knew you would attack him?”

  “Still, there’s no evidence that ‘I’ did it, is it?”

  “Nope, well maybe father Ecir corpse but-”

  “That bastard it’s alive, I keep him in the dungeon for interrogation, although he doesn’t want to speak”

  “Wait! Father Ecir it’s alive!?”

  “Yeah, did I not mention it?”

  “That’s great! We have our evidence of misdeeds from the church! All we need to do is link him properly and be prosecuted by me as king! like that we can sweep you under the carpet and just attribute it to council’s regards”

  “Is that so! You’re not as useless as you look!”

  Arthur had a smart idea for a change, I joke of course, personally I hate how everything seems to be going as he pns most of the time, even if he improvises the pns on the spot.

  “I know what my official response will be, but now we need to move him under the crown supervision”

  “Sounds like a pn”

  “But why was the church so certain father Ecir died? They never saw the body”

  “He did try to commit suicide constantly, he’s chained up and gagged to avoid it”

  “Well, it’s not like he’ll achieve it, unless they send a hitman to off him”

  “To the town lord pace, that’ll be difficult, unless Marisa it’s letting anyone enter”

  “Uhh, the gates are wide open from the orphanage fiasco...”

  ““Crap””

  Me and the king said at the same time. No time, I took Arthur’s hand and teleported back home!

  “Phew... he’s still there and alive”

  “that it is, let’s arrange his movement”

  “And-Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”

  I yelled angrily and punched to the air, hitting a man that was invisible a second ago, he thought he could hide but he’s no Lassie. Even if I can’t see him, I can smell him and feel his presence!

  “You!”

  He tried to kill himself but I used magic to stop him, and by that I mean I broke his arms and legs and shoved my hand to its mouth.

  “Anyone, bring me a gag!”

  “...”

  The guards that were dumbfounded just stared.

  “Anyone!?”

  “Yes midy!”

  “And you, infiltration of a town lord pace and attempted murder of a convicted criminal are serious offences, and to do it in front of the king, your sentence it’s more than clear”

  And so, after teleporting back to the pace with these two and Arthur, the king took the prisoners. The amount of security was astounding, there’s a small army taking them away.

  “Absolutely no one enters or exits the royal pace without my explicit permission, we’re under complete lockdown, no questions, understand!”

  “Yes your majesty!”

  ...

  ...

  “Well, I’ll take it from here”

  “Thanks Arthur, this will make things easier”

  “As easy as we can, still, there will be a lot of negotiating with the church now, but I’ll make do somehow, just try to keep a low profile from now on”

  “I will try”

  “...you don’t sound too convincing”

  “Yeah well, there’s still a few things to be done”

  “I’ll leave you to it then, oh, and regarding lord Gwendal, I heard of his unfortunate passing, did... did you hold a funeral for him as well?”

  “The piggy? No, why?”

  “Then let me be the one to do it, as I said before, I have a debt I will never repay to his father, so I’d like to apologize to him properly, even if... if it’s too te already”

  Should the king know about the piggy? I mean, he seems to not care too much about it but, I guess a funeral would be appropriate...

  “Why the complex expression? You did something outrageous didn’t you?”

  “Uh... well... Can you keep a secret?”

  “Knowing you, it’s probably something stupid, are you gonna tell me lord Gwendal it’s alive or something?”

  “I, uh... it’s complicated, kinda?”

  “Sigh... what did you do now?”

  Joanne_carper