Chapter Twenty-Five

  Alone with the demon, Queen Draudillon extended her hand and when he took it, guided him immediately to her bedchamber. There was no sense in putting matters off, ‘I have a Kingdom to run, after all. And this might be more important than any law or order I’ve ever signed in my entire reign.’ She acknowledged as she shut the door to her room.

  The Queen had deliberately avoided bringing any servant, if there was any chance that the demon was other than the hero his actions suggested, ‘No one else needs to suffer with me.’ That was the measure of her resolve.

  “Before we ‘begin’ Lord Ulbert, may I ask if you preferred this or my ‘other’ state? It’s fine, either way, but I need to know how to make this as enjoyable as possible for you.” Draudillon was lying through her teeth, and so thoroughly that she had her back to him while she said it so that no twitch of her face would hide her disgust if he was like Cerebrate. Angering someone who could destroy a country was a very, very bad policy, and she would not chance it.

  “You are beautiful as you are, and I would change nothing but your state of dress.” Ulbert borrowed a line from one of Peroroncino’s H-games, and cursed himself for not having cut the line off sooner. ‘Great job. Why not just tell her she’s as pretty as a prostitute too! Idiot.’ Ulbert groaned, but to his surprise, the Queen actually laughed at his response, locked the door from the inside, and turned around to face him.

  “That is a relief, I was worried you were a ‘lolicon’ as they call them.” Queen Draudillon said and visibly wiped imaginary sweat from her brow when Ulbert made a disgusted face at the idea.

  “No. I am not that.” He answered.

  She approached, walking fearlessly close to him and putting her hands on his chest. “Forgive my selfish request, because you are a handsome demon, as demons go… but of course, it will be easier for me if-”

  Ulbert’s wink gave her pause. “I will retain this form, it’s as much me as the other, after all.” He said, and that at least was true, as he’d modeled it after his real life appearance, with a few ‘tweaks’. ‘But then, she doesn’t need to know that, and there’s no way to properly explain it to her anyway…’

  There was no time wasted after that. For the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom, ensuring that the throne had an heir, a strong, and powerful heir, was as much a part of her job as it was the job of a fisher to fish and risk drowning or a soldier to fight and risk dying. To ensure that this overwhelming force was bound to her country by power, blood, law, and if feasible, affection, was as important as ensuring her army was well supplied with food and weapons.

  Up until his unexpected changing of the game, her eyes took her toward the Slane Theocracy or even the rising power of the Sorcerous Kingdom, or even a powerful adventurer like Momon whom she might be able to lure in to protect her domain.

  But right here and now, there was an option greater than any other she could have ever hoped for, and she would not waste it.

  ‘With a Queen?! Me! I’m going to be a King!’ Ulbert’s demon blood sang in his veins, the promise of everything that lay ahead only enhanced the flavor of the moment, the Queen wore a sweet perfume of lilac that filled his nostrils, and her body was firm and soft in his arms. Her soft breasts pressed against himself and her legs hooked shamelessly around his body and held him firmly in place.

  His lack of experience in the real world was a source of anxiety, however Ulbert did have one advantage, one thing going for him. And that was his love of books… which included the books of pleasure that Peroroncino snuck into the Library of Ashurbanipal to get around the censors. Books that Ulbert devoured as they were as close to the real thing as he could get, his favorite being the tantric manuals that included graphic examples of every position that would extract the greatest pleasure from one’s partner.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Draudillon bit into the pillow as the slayer of beastmen made her die a little all on his own, her own voice caught in her throat as she shivered from the language of his silver tongue…

  Minutes became hours as they entwined together, testing the limits of the body of a woman descended from a perverted dragon and a demon who she was now suspecting less a ‘force of destruction’ and more a ‘force of seduction’.

  Such was their shared delight, that she began to regret that it would have to end in order to bathe and feast instead of doing… more of what they were doing.

  By the time he had spent the last of himself and they flopped down into the soft, steaming sheets of her bed, she was forced to wonder, ‘Is he an incubus variety of demon…? I’ll have to ask about that… just as soon as I get my breath back… and before either of us can walk properly again.’ The Queen thought, while her chest heaved and she panted in sync with the one who she would make her country’s King.

  Cerebrate played with the coin, rolling it between his fingers, it was a single gold piece, all that pathetic murderer had. But it would buy plenty for his usual indulgences. He licked his lips as he thought about the night to come, and thought with regret about the sudden loss of his glory days… ‘Since the invasion began I’ve been able to do whatever I wanted… as long as I delivered beastmen heads, all that young soft flesh was mine to slip into like a nice, tight glove… eventually even the Queen would have had to give her body to me… all that hate she had, all that disgust for me… how many nights I thought of what face she might make when I had her shift into a child’s body… stuck obeying my orders all night long…’

  Now all that was gone.

  And with that vanished, so was whatever semblance of respect he got, even from his own team. People openly looked at him with disgust and revulsion. Villages that once put their little sons and daughters in front of themselves in the hopes that one might compel him to stay for a night, now hid their children in their homes when he rode through. ‘All the fame and glory and adoration the others get, and I get nothing but scorn…’

  It rankled.

  ‘It’s all you deserve.’ The voice in the back of his head that he’d long ago slain to allow his unbridled indulgence, reared its ugly head out of nowhere. ‘Do you even like you? You are disgusting…’

  He clenched the coin in his palm and looked over his shoulder. Sabina rode on horseback, the head of the killer bouncing back and forth against the flanks of the horse. As rangers went, she was second to none, a piss poor swordsman, but good with a bow and with a nice assortment of arrows, including blunted ones for taking prisoners, her talent, ‘unlimited draw’ meant that she could draw any weight as if it were nothing, making her one of the most dangerous archers in the world even without her uncanny eyesight. She could hold a draw from a scorpion siege engine and hold it for as long as she lived, if she wished.

  Zene, who rode beside her, was a magic caster able to use fifth tier spells of destruction, but he had some modest healing magic skills as well, a generalist in magic, he wasn’t the best in any, but he had at least one fifth tier spell of most disciplines other than necromancy. In addition, he was hardy of body and unlike most magic casters, had enough close quarters skill that he didn’t have to be constantly protected.

  ‘Both of them hate me… but what does it matter? Let them hate me as long as they obey me.’ Cerebrate contemplated as they made their way free of the forest. ‘With no beastmen, and a shortage of bandits… we might have to try a guild contract soon…’ That was hard. Most quest givers weren’t willing to work with him anymore.

  ‘Because you’re worthless. All your skill got you was a hungry belly and comrades who loathe you. You’re not as good as Gazef, or Brain, or Momon. If anybody had any other option, they wouldn’t choose you. You don’t deserve to be chosen.’ The nagging at his mind reminded him of the first time he indulged himself. His bliss was matched by his self-loathing that day…

  And now it was back.

  And despite pushing it away as best he could, part of him knew, ‘It isn’t staying quiet this time.’

  All he could do was clench his prize tighter, dreaming of how to spend it on a chance to spend himself.