Book 3: Chapter 29 (2/2)

“Yes. Yes, you should’ve,” Tafel said before sighing. She placed her hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Look, there were circumstances around my ascension to the throne, alright? The demon lord is supposed to be the strongest demon, so anyone who can defeat them can become the new demon lord. And I defeated the previous one, so the throne became mine.”

Alice picked her ear with her pinky and flicked away the glob of earwax. “Yeah, yeah, sure. Do you know what you sound like right now? A big, fat hypocrite.”

“What’s with you recently?” Tafel asked, furrowing her brow. “Why are you always picking fights with me? First, it was the thing about taxes, and now it’s this. Did I do something to make you hate me?”

“Hmm…, no?” Alice raised an eyebrow. She smiled at Tafel. “Or did you? I wonder.”

“She’s upset you went searching for genies without her,” Mr. Skelly whispered in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Despite how she portrays herself to be tough and independent, Alice has issues with abandonment. She’s like a puppy that way.”

“Who has abandonment issues? I’m not a dog!” Alice punched Mr. Skelly’s helmet, causing both the metal and his skull to fly off.

Daniel and Apollonia screamed at the sight, Daniel drawing his sword. “You killed a knight!”

“Uh, no, he’s already dead,” Alice said, waving off Daniel’s words with her hand. “Don’t worry about it.” She slapped the back of Mr. Skelly’s armor. “See? Say something.”

Mr. Skelly crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, not saying a word.

Daniel and Apollonia stared at the fallen set of armor before staring at woman standing over it. Alice’s eye twitched as one corner of her lips curled upwards, veins bulging on her forehead. “You damned skeleton! Stop messing with me like this!”

Tafel opened a portal and reached into it, retrieving Mr. Skelly’s helmet and skull. She pulled the skull out of the helmet and raised it up. “Look. He was already dead,” she said, waving the two items at Daniel.

Daniel’s eyes bulged, nearly falling out of his head. Mr. Skelly’s skull moved, his lower teeth clacking against his upper ones. “Avenge … me….”

Tafel met Alice’s gaze. Alice nodded. Tafel threw Mr. Skelly’s skull over her shoulder without looking and handed Alice the helmet. “I’m sorry for not bringing you with us to go looking for genies. I just wanted to give you some alone time with Mr. Skelly.”

“Really,” Alice said, her eyes narrowing at Tafel. “If you’re lying, I won’t forgive you.”

“Alright, I admit it—I forgot about you two when I heard about the genies,” Tafel said, biting her lower lip.

“I knew it,” Alice said. “You really did forget.”

“Speaking of forgetting…, was I forgotten again?” the devil asked, its face downcast. “Should I just go back home? I…, I wanted to succeed in my first contract.” It hung its neck, staring at the ground. “Maybe my sister was right. I really am just a useless devil with no presence.”

“Wait!” Apollonia said. “Don’t go.” She patted Daniel’s helmet. “Hurry up and follow my orders. I don’t know if the demon lord is really going to sit patiently at my home. The faster you get here, the better it is.”

“Ah,” Tafel said as Daniel leapt off the pile of rubble. “Should we follow them?”

“No,” Vur said, his head appearing behind Tafel and Alice. “We’re leaders. Leaders lead. We’ll go find the empress first.”