The Demon King's Hero Of Light 55 Chapter 55 Palace Intrigue

Opening her eyes, she looked up into a face that definitely was not her fathers. Instead of the almost black skin she remembered, it was a pale human face that looked down at her. The light hazel eyes seemed familiar, and as her mind finally clicked, she realized it was Alfred that was staring down at her.

"Feeling better after that nap? I think we were down here for a really long time," he said, giving her a hand up from the pile of ants she fell asleep on.

Glancing around the room, Aella grimaced at the destroyed carca.s.s of the queen. She had been really out of it, to have made such a mess.

"I probably need to check in with my people when we get out of here," she said, glancing over at Josephine and Curt as they emerged from the tunnel the three had gone down. Josephine looked up at Alfred and smiled, before turning to Aella.

"Do you feel up to teleporting us out of here? It would be a lot quicker than trying to retrace our steps back to the horses," she asked.

Nodding, Aella held out her hand to Curt, to take him first. Once they arrived, they looked around, expecting to see the horses grazing lazily nearby, but they weren't immediately visible.

"I'll go look for the horses while you get the others," he said, jogging towards the bottom of the hill, where they had left them.

A few minutes later, Aella had finished moving everyone to the hillside, and Curt was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll find him," said Alfred, zipping off down the hill.

"He's such a good leader," sighed Josephine. "I can't wait until we get my daughter away from the church. It's going to be really hard traveling with her, though."

"Oh? Why's that?" asked Aella, wondering how long it had been since she last visited the palace.

"My daughter's been sheltered as much as I could, her whole life. She's never been exposed to monsters or been in any of the training programs of the church's."

"How old is she?" asked Aella.

"She's 3," said Josephine, looking down at her hands, that she had tightly clenched. "She's plenty old enough for someone to decide to start training her."

Aella frowned. That was the age she started learning to fight from her father. "How are we going to continue traveling with her, if she's not able to keep up? I don't mind saving her, but I don't want her slowing us down, either."

"I'm not sure, but I'll do my best to make sure she's not in the way."

Not fully convince, Aella turned and looked down the hill as Curt and Alfred returned.

"The horses were taken by demons," called Curt, when they drew close enough for him to be heard.

"How do you know that?" asked Aella with a frown.

"Human's don't have the same size of foot as a demon," said Alfred as they reached the girls.

"Do you remember there were demons trapped in a building in the town just over the hill, that the ants were attacking? When we killed all the ants, and chased them down their hole, the people must have found our horses and used them to escape," said Josephine.

Aella nodded carefully, as she remembered seeing the people briefly, but then forgot about them in the heat of battle. She should be more careful about that in the future.

"Well, it can't be helped. We're on foot for now. Let's go until dark, and then make camp," said Alfred, turning east.

The further they walked, the more tired everyone became. By the time it was evening, everyone was ready to rest. Aella wanted nothing more than to sink to the ground and sleep right where she was, but there was still a lot for her to do before she could rest.

"I will be back in the morning," she told Alfred, as everyone set their packs down and began to make camp.

"Could you bring us back something to eat?" asked Josephine, looking up from her bag, where she had been digging in it. "We haven't hunted anything recently, and are running low."

"I can do that," she said stepping forward and teleporting to her room. Firion was leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"Troubles?" he asked, dropping his chair down and standing up.

"Nothing that I couldn't handle," she said, trying to hide her fatigue.

"You look about to drop," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"I should. What do you have to report?"

"Those three are meeting someone in one of the topmost spires, and I'm not sure how they're getting up there. I've tried countless times, but haven't succeeded in finding a way up. They all have residences in the city, that they aren't staying at currently. I believe they are sleeping in the palace, but haven't tracked down where. It's been very busy here, too."

"What do you mean?" she asked, concern obvious in her stance.

"The n.o.bles are planning to try and overthrow you, claiming you are overstepping your bounds as king. They are trying to convince the common people to go along with the plan, but it's not taking off like they want it to."

"I would hate to have to kill all the n.o.bles. There's so few of us left," she said with a shake of her head.

"Killing them won't solve your problem. New n.o.bles will rise up, wanting their own form of power, every time you take one out."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Then I guess it's time to give them what they want."

Firion raised his eyebrow again, but Aella didn't wait around to see it. She teleported to the throne room next. Frederick and Seifer were sparring, their shirts thrown on the floor to keep them clean from their sweat. The Advisors were standing against one wall, watching them as they all waited for her to appear. Stepping forward to make herself apparent, she watched them all straighten and bow.

"Your Majesty! It's been three days since you were here last! If it weren't for the magic in the palace ensuring us you still lived, we would have thought the worse!" exclaimed Rannaun, bowing again.

"I have been very busy fighting monsters along the border. What do you all have to report?"

Ernun, the Law Advisor, stepped forward and said, "There has been unrest among the n.o.bles. They are trying to quietly raise forces among the commoners, but none are wanting to go against you. The move into the warehouse district is complete, and crime has all but dropped in the city."
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

She nodded as he stepped back and turned to Varnin, who stepped forward next.

"I contacted the general, as you requested, and he did as you asked. The griffons that have been causing us so much grief began delivering meat to every town and village almost within the hour. All of the attacks from the north have halted, for the time being, and there have been no more monster sightings reported to the north. The south is still having issues, but nothing abnormal."

"What is the communications device that you used?" asked Aella, c.o.c.king her head to the side as Varnin squirmed at the question.

"It is a magical device we have left over from the very first king. We have tried to keep it secret from every king since him, to ensure it isn't destroyed. Not all of our kings have been as civil as you, Your Majesty," she answered.

Aella laughed. She thought Aella was civil?

"The device allows me to communicate directly with a select few of my most trusted generals. No one else in the military knows of its existence."

The realization of what that meant hit her, but she was able to hide it with a nod, and turned to Jirga, the Food Advisor. If they could speak immediately with someone far away, then they could be communicating with the Church just as easily.

Jirga stepped forward and bowed, smiling broadly. "With the food from the griffons, we will be able to finish our small harvest and bring in enough food to be distributed for the next month. We still need to figure out what to do for winter, but you have saved us! The demon responsible for my misinformation has been dealt with."

Aella nodded again, and turned to Xathtak.

"Everything in the sewers is running as planned. I have managed to get enough workers together to start rebuilding some of the worst damaged sections, but I have gotten reports that there are tunnels not on the sewer maps, that I thought you would like to know about. They could be left over from when the sewers were first built, or they could be tunnels constructed by groups looking to infiltrate areas illegally. I have been sending a scribe with the workers to mark where these tunnels are on a map, for your perusal later. Because of the poor conditions, the final completion date may be a bit later, but we should still be able to get it done in less than two months."

"Very good. Rannaun, do you have anything to report?'

"The only thing I have to report, is that the river, running beside the city is dropping. If we don't get rain soon, we may have to figure out a different way of getting water into our water tanks and into our sewer systems, as the pipes will no longer be under water."

She nodded, not sure how she could make it rain. Josephine had said there was a serious lack of moisture in the air, and the fires weren't helping matters any. Maybe there was magic involved, somehow? She would have to check with Bridgette on that. There were supposed to be magic books in the library she could learn from, though she wasn't sure she wanted to take the time to learn magic from books. It seemed like it would take a long time, and be very boring.

"Orolon, I know you aren't necessarily in charge of anything, but do you have anything to report?"

The white demon bowed to her and said, "The new servants of the crown have finally started settling into the castle, and are starting to learn their new duties. The cooks have requested permission to take on some of them to help with food preparations."

"I don't see why not. How are my Regents holding up without me?" she asked, turning to look at Seifer and Frederick. Frederick's wings made it difficult for him to easily put clothing on, so he was merely holding his shirt, while Seifer had toweled off and put his back on.

"Other than worrying about you not showing up, and wanting to kill the n.o.bles as they bicker and complain about things not being fair, we're doing fine," said Seifer.

"It would be better if you let one of us travel with you," said Frederick. "The position of Regent, doesn't really need both of us with the castle protecting us so well."

She smiled and said, "I appreciate your concern, but I can't pick you up and teleport with you. That's the conditions of my ability."

Seifer chuckled at Frederick's crestfallen look, and patted him on the back. "It's all right, she still comes back to see us, which is more than we can say about any of the other guys who were with us."

"Only because she left us to babysit the throne," grumbled Frederick.

"There may come a time, when I need one of you to travel with me, but right now, I need you both here. With the n.o.bles causing issues, and spies everywhere, I only trust the two of you and Firion right now. I have other things to attend to, before the night is over yet. If there is nothing more?"

Everyone shook their heads in the negative, some even speaking out, so Aella teleported to the library, to find Bridgette pa.s.sed out asleep, wrapped in the bedroll, clutching a book. Aella watched her deep breathing for a moment, before deciding that looked wonderful. Laying down on the floor next to her, she lay her head on a corner of the bedroll and was asleep almost before she could close her eyes.