“ARX!! ARXHOLE!!! BIG ARXHOLE!!”

  “NOT MY NAME!!!”

  I cackled when I finally got a response. I landed along the correct mountain with Moonwash in my arms. She got to her feet and stared impassively at the massive inhex descending from near the peak.

  “Haell! What the fu– AhHH—! Ah… is this your girlfriend? Moonwash?”

  He went from irate, to angry that I brought someone, and then finally dull acceptance once he remembered who it was supposed to be. It was funny.

  “Hello,” Moonwash greeted.

  “Hello,” he waved. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.”

  They shook hands. Well, Arx did it with a big claw, that Moonwash was not scared of at all. She was well past halfway to Level 80 at this point, when I hadn’t reached Level 60 in a single thing yet. That was amazing for her, and I was so proud. I wished I could do it too. I wanted more power and faster!!!

  “So,” Arx spoke to fill the silence. “I heard you’re a great crafter.”

  “Yes. I am.”

  He chuckled. “Wow. So quick. I can see why you’re with Haell.”

  “What do you mean?” Moonwash genuinely asked.

  That made Arx fumble awkwardly, and I only sneered at him when he looked to me for help.

  “Well, ah, you know… You’re very self-assured!”

  “I am,” she confirmed. “I believe my creations to be very high quality, especially for my level. There is infinite room to grow, but I’m happy with where I’m at. And I’ve looked at many things that other people have made, and I would no longer be impressed by most of them.”

  “Right…” he trailed off awkwardly. The silence stretched on.

  I decided to finally rescue this interaction. Boy, did they have a problem if I’m the one with social skills!

  “LET’S GO PARTY!”

  ~~~

  None of us were good at music, but there was a pond a few mountains over that had a kalmodile. It was a fat colorful crocodile monster, with pipes at its back that could play the most calming of tunes to lull its prey into a false sense of security. It had some mental compulsion effects, which I was not a fan of, but I was aware of the hypocrisy, so I just left the Level 40 monster alone, aside from a few playful bloody boops when it tried to eat us.

  We all swayed along the rhythm as we sat around the building fire. Moonwash was totally out of beat, and I knew she was just doing it because I wanted ‘to party.’

  “So, what’s Arisen City like?” Arx questioned her, making an effort.

  “It’s nice. A lot of good materials come there. The people are a bit weird, though.”

  “Oh? How so?”

  “I’m not sure. They’re different. I get attacked sometimes.”

  “That’s terrible!”

  “I’m fine. They were weak.”

  “No, it’s not fine!” I interjected. “I oughtta break their spines!”

  “I can take on most of them, and I have guards too.”

  “Hmm. Yeah. But you’re the girlfriend of the Demon Queen! Me! They should be more careful.”

  “They’re not careful with you.”

  “In what world?” I asked incredulously. “Maybe years ago, but now they have learned.”

  “I see. I didn’t really notice.”

  “That’s how life is. You don’t notice the small changes as they pile up. We’re all frogs being slowly boiled.”

  “Arisen sounded like a much better place when Haell described it,” Arx mused. “Even invited me there multiple times.”

  “I invited you to Pandemonium. I never said anything about how good or bad Arisen City is.”

  “Ahh… You’re right. That’s not good. You’re that place’s ‘Demon Queen.’”

  “And like any good Demon Queen, I delegate!”

  “It doesn’t sound like that’s doing enough…”

  “Oh no. My city’s honor has been questioned. We must now duel. En garde.”

  “No thanks.”

  “Cheapskate.”

  ~~~

  “THIS IS AMAZING!” Arx screamed as he got a taste of Moonwash cooking.

  “YEAH!” I agreed!

  “I heard about this ancient lost ritual used by the ancestral centaur tribes, and it created an earthquake that got worse and worse the more people galloped across it, thereby forcing certain conflicts to stop…” Moonwash continued her story even as she flipped the many varying skewers over the grill.

  I stood up, because we couldn’t just be eating everything while my girlfriend was still cooking! Arx looked at me, finished his own meal quickly, and then did the same.

  We spent the rest of the day trading stories like that, and it was great! Arx didn’t have much to share on account of his living arrangement, but I was entertained enough by the various fights he’d fought or witnessed. We talked and gushed about the books that Arx had read from his new collection, many of which I and Moonwash had also read long ago. I brought up some stories from Earth, until I confessed that I was a reincarnator. Reward trust with trust. I have a new trump card he doesn’t know of. Not that it will ever be relevant. Fuck.

  ~~~

  “Oh yeah… I think I’ve seen a tree with those leaves.” Arx nodded as he looked at the page Moonwash showed him. A skin-colored tree with hand-shaped veiny red leaves was depicted there.

  “Do you have any branches left?” she asked.

  “Ah, no… I don’t think I ever got any at all. I just thought it was a weird tree.”

  Moonwash paused, thinking.

  I snickered.

  Arx raised a mandible, in the equivalent of raising a brow.

  “No, no, it’s nothing,” I lied. In truth, I knew that Moonwash was just a tad annoyed, because I’d made similar blunders too! And I always knew for certain because of my Memory Core!

  Moonwash had to ask him where it happened, and he could only point to a general area because it was decades ago, which I knew only further annoyed her!

  I guess I’ll have to search there next time. I shrugged. As good a place as any to raise hell.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  ~~~

  “Haell mentioned that you’re here, alone, and that all of the things she brought here before were for you. Is there anything else you need?” Moonwash asked, being considerate.

  “Well, I don’t know about need,” Arx answered. “I’ve been surviving here just fine for a decade.”

  “That’s true. We don’t really need most things,” Moonwash agreed, deadpan.

  I cackled. “This got deep. And dark.” I turned to Arx. “What do you want then, you who need not anything? How could anyone claim to ever need anything, when you who live in these mountains alone need for nothing!”

  “I didn’t go that far,” Arx commented. “But hmmm… It’s hard to say what else I want. You really did think of everything last time, and it’d be silly to complain about some very minor size problems when I was doing just fine before.” He pondered. “I guess… it would be interesting to see that play you talked about earlier, but that’s not–”

  “You got it!” I snapped my fingers. “One theatre troupe kidnapped and bound, coming right up!”

  “Wait! No! I didn’t say–” He jumped high into the air as I flew and flittered about.

  “Are we really catching one of them?” Moonwash asked from below, suddenly writing something down.

  “NO!” I snapped, actually horrified.

  “I know,” she affected a smile. “I’m just kidding.”

  ~~~

  “So, how was today?” I asked Moonwash as we flew away into the night, looking for a good tree to teleport from.

  “It was alright,” she answered. “I had fun.”

  “I’m glad.” I landed on a tall branch, and began our return back home. I didn’t think they got along perfectly, but neither did I with her dwarven friends. We would never get a cohesive whole–in theory–like the Harvesters again, and that was okay.

  ~~~

  I found myself surrounded by the Demon Aspires.

  Ragnar charged at me, and I immediately turned to face him. I parried his axe, and then his shortsword that went for the stab.

  A thrown handaxe flew at me from behind, but I dodged it without looking. I punched Ragnar in the guts before he could stab me with his dagger, and he doubled over, puking blood.

  Marcus had fallen back, and was now peppering me with arrows. Larah ran around me with a small shield on her handless arm, and the other throwing poisoned knives, needles, and… outright shurikens. That fountan woman sure loved her projectiles, and she’d been obsessed with the Ninja Stars ever since she found one lying around. Moonwash had made a lot of weird shit over the years.

  She was really only tiring herself out by running so much.

  I easily caught her, shattered her shield in one hit, and then covered her in rot as she fell to the ground screaming.

  Last was Marcus, and I got into a ranged battle with him. Canons of curse and hellfire shot forward, and the human man dodged desperately while retaliating with his arrows. It was not a duel I would win against an equal, but my sheer power overwhelmed my pupil, and he screamed as he was set on hellfire.

  I had not allowed a single arrow to even graze my dress armor.

  I skipped forward and pulled away all the hellfire on his body.

  Marcus panted and wheezed. “WHEW. That was horrible.”

  I shrugged. “You wanted to become demons. That’s nothing.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, wiping off his cooling sweat. “I wanted to become a demon.”

  “Hmm?” I tilted my head, catching his wording.

  Marcus smiled wryly. “You’re right. You were always right. This is… too much. I give up. I can’t become a demon. I can’t take it.”

  I opened my mouth, and then snapped it shut. “I see.”

  “WHAT!?” Larah and Ragnar were not so relaxed. They immediately rushed towards Marcus, their own wounds be damned.

  “Why?”

  “What happened!?”

  “WE PROMISED!!”

  The man scratched his head awkwardly. “We did. Back when we did not really know what being a demon is, other than Haell being very very cool.” I did my best not to preen. “But now we know. It’s the pain of fighting her, but worse and constant. And I don’t think… I don’t think I want that. Not really. Not after having really thought about it a lot.” He bowed deeply in apology. “Sorry guys. I’m just not that strong. I don’t want it enough, I realized. I’ll… have to bow out now, before we get to whatever the next stage is. If not, then I’ll only get hurt and then regret it once I inevitably quit all the same.”

  “But…”

  “But what about our friends who died along the way!?” Larah snapped. “The three of them… of the Hope Aspires… They died for the same dream. So how can you…”

  I placed a hand on Larah’s shoulder, and pulled her back. I did the same for Ragnar who was more subdued, but still very conflicted.

  “I’ll help you try to become demons if you want to, but I will not force anyone, not even my greatest enemies.” I nodded at Marcus. “I don’t disapprove. It’s not the path for everyone. Best of luck to whatever else you decide you want to do.”

  “Thank you.” He sniffed, hesitating. “Can I… can I still stay here? Even if I don’t want to be a demon anymore. I want to keep being part of… all this, even if in another way. And well, there are a lot of people staying here who aren’t demons, so…”

  “They are friends,” I reached out a hand to help him up. “And so are you.”

  We hugged, and I allowed him to cry.

  “So… I can stay, right?” he asked worriedly after we separated.

  I chuckled. “Yes. Obviously.”

  Ragnar approached his old friend next, and didn’t hesitate for long. “Okay, Marcus. I get it. I… It’s unfortunate that you can’t do this with us, but I know that we all had to really think about it and worry after learning about what being a demon is actually like. I guess we were just naive children who didn’t know what we were getting into.”

  He elbowed Larah, who groaned but nodded.

  “Fine. Sorry, Marcus. I was just startled. They… everyone… they would’ve wanted you to follow your heart.”

  “You guys…!” Marcus exclaimed, and then hugged them. It was… really quite a beautiful sight. Oh, and I was getting pulled into the group hug too. Okay, okay. Fine. You guys are lucky that I’m not as uncontrolled as before, else I would’ve docked you all good!!

  “Now,” I said as we separated. My evil eyes bore into Larah and Ragnar’s. “You two should learn from Marcus. There is no shame in bowing out now. People make mistakes sometimes, so don’t fall for the sunk-cost problem, okay? If you’re worried about what the fuck you’ll do from here on, then I can promise to help you with whatever you decide, within reason.” Blanket promises were bad and dangerous!

  “I’m sure I want to be a demon,” Larah crossed her arms resolutely, huffing.

  “Haell, do you… not want to help us become demons?” Ragnar asked, then realized something more fundamental. “Actually, do you not want to have more demons at all?”

  “That’s right!” I answered, a bit incredulously. “I never said I wanted that. I don’t know why you’d ever assume that. I like being a demon, but I don’t give a shit if there are others. In fact, I’d prefer that there weren’t!”

  “Oh… I thought that you might, you know, feel alone, being the only one in the whole world.”

  I snorted derisively, my hands sweeping around me, before landing on the passing Berry.

  “AH! W-What!?” she asked.

  “Nothing, nothing! You’re great!”

  “Okay…? Thanks!”

  I turned back to Ragnar and Larah. “Clearly, I am not alone.” I smiled at them. “There’s even you guys.”

  “Ah,” he scratched his neck, embarrassed. “That’s not the kind of alone I was talking about…… but I understand now that you do not care about that at all.”

  “Of course. Anyone else’s species is of no concern to me. Only mine.”

  “Why would you prefer that weren’t any other demons, then?” Larah asked, just a little pointedly.

  I met her gaze. “Because… Well, I’ll admit that being the only demon is actually a bit aesthetically pleasing... But that’s not important. The bigger part is that I think demons might just be… inherently evil. It’s such a weird and terrible thing to say about an entire species of people, but I’ve talked to you a lot about the curse mana we hold in our bodies, potentially infernal or hellfire too. I can handle it and remain… decent, but I really honestly do not have the confidence that anyone else can do the same. I’m afraid that they, possibly you, will only rape and pillage across the land until I’m able to hunt and kill you.” I paused. “We’re friends now. I don’t want to have to kill you. If you even survive. I’ve said this many times over, but I do not think that you will even live to become a demon. You won’t. It’s really troublesome, I don’t actually know how to make demons. Not precisely. It’s all so vague!” I took a breath. “I don’t want you to die.”

  The silence stretched on as I once again chose to reject the dream that we shared. Fuck…

  “THAT’S HOW WE ALL FELT WITH YOU!!!” The thick tension in the air was suddenly broken by Mom’s sudden shout from a balcony far above.

  My head snapped up. “MOM! We’re being serious!”

  “SO ARE WE!” Dad chimed next.

  I gave the longest suffering groan of all time.

  The Demon Aspires giggled, with another promise to think it over and talk.

  One of them had already fallen, before the real training could even start.

  AHHHHH! Slice-of-Life episode! And weirdly philosophical chapter. At least I had big fight last chapter. And I don’t hate this. I really like how Arx’s dynamics have turned out. It’s very fun to write. I love that the jokes are back! For a second there, I genuinely thought that my comedy tag is cooked! Haell just… wasn’t happy! And I can’t write jokes like that! AAAAHHHH!!!

  ANYWAY. The Demon Aspires… well… someone gave up. This development was planned. I didn’t come up with it just this chapter, I’ll clarify! It just made sense to me that someone’s gonna give up when faced with all that!

  Please consider supporting me over on to read 30 chapters ahead, past the end of Book 3 and onto Book 4! I know that this chapter is very short for the wait, but I am feeling better and writing more again. Reminder that my post frequency are decided by the chapters I'm currently writing, which are quite far ahead.

  That's all. Hope you enjoyed! Have a nice rest of your day.