Tales of a Seductress

TOAD – Chapter 75

I had traveled with large armies before, and the Demon King’s retinue was hardly as large as the one General Typhon had commanded. These men were a bit higher quality. They were the personal guards and elite soldiers that worked directly under the Demon King. Even if Oberon’s house no longer held any political sway, the man himself still elicited enough respect and fear that he had a strong group of loyal men who followed and served. His secretary, the boy I only knew as the Truthsayer, appeared to be one of them.

As we rode north, I gave him a flirtatious smile. He ignored it the best he could, but I still could see visible effects on him. His cheeks were a little red, and he let out slightly more staggard breaths. He had already walked in on me in several embarrassing situations. He had seen parts of me that other men could only dream about.

I hadn’t gone out of my way to seduce him. This would only cause problems between me and my husband, and there was also the matter of magical items that suppressed my ability and protected him. Even with all of that, I was impressed that he hadn’t thrown all caution to the wind and jumped on me. I wouldn’t call myself conceded, merely confident, but his resistance hurt my pride a little bit.

Oberon and I were traveling by carriage for this part of the journey rather than horseback. Since there were clear paved roads, it made sense for a king to not have to ride. That didn’t mean that everyone else got a carriage, and there were soldiers before and after use. The Truthsayer was one of those riding alongside. After noticing me eyeing him, his eyes flickered to Oberon worriedly, and then he kicked his horse and rode a bit faster so I could no longer see his face. I didn’t mind looking at his behind though.  

“Can you please stop flirting with my Truthsayer? I’m right here.” A deep, aggravated voice asked in front of me.

I turned to the Oberon and flashed him my best smile. “How else will I be able to make you jealous?”

“It hardly makes me jealous.” He rolled his eyes, but I could tell that he was in a good mood, and seemed more willing to engage with me than he usually did.

I leaned toward him, my low-cut dress showing a fair amount of cleavage. “Come on, daddy, you can tell me. Is he a eunuch?”

“Daddy? You use some strange expressions sometimes.” He sighed. “And, no. His sexual organs are attached.

“Do you not plan to impregnant me someday soon? You will become a father then, so I should get used to calling you daddy. If you want, you can call me mommy.”

“No, I’d rather not.” He responded seriously.

“If he’s not a eunuch, how is he so immune to my charms?” I asked.

“So, you admit you’ve been attempting to charm him?” Oberon growled.

“No more than I’ve attempted to charm you.” I smiled. “Quite a bit less.”

“Hmm.” He grunted. “He and I… have a special relationship.”

“Lovers?” I gasped.

“Are you done?” He didn’t even smirk as he leaned back. “He comes from a special order of demons. Their lineage is old… but only a drop of their blood remains. It offers them many special abilities. They see that which others cannot.”

I leaned forward, suddenly becoming a lot more interested. “Is a Truthsayer and Soothe sayer? They can see the future?”

“The future? Not exactly, although they have been known to be able to tell if there was an impending crisis. Rather, they can see into the hearts of man. They can detect when someone lies, and when their heart is at ease.   This is why they are truly hired. Different men use their Truthsayer for different reasons. I use him to understand the measure of someone. He can help me identify my friends from my enemies.”

“Is that why he keeps his distance from me?” I asked. “He senses my danger?”

“Perhaps,” The Demon King looked away. “Or perhaps he knows you’re a good person, and this sexualized nature to put on is a façade you use to hide the vulnerable woman inside.”

“Is that what he told you?” I let out a laugh of disbelief.

“He has not told me anything about you other than you have no intention of hurting me.” He responded. “I only offered conjecture.”

“Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but what you see is what you get. There is nothing hidden inside me. Not anymore. What I project is all that is.”

“Then, that is truly a shame.” He responded.

I didn’t like the tone of his voice, and I was no longer enjoying the conversation. The pair of us fell into a long silence, with only the whinny’s of horses and the sounds of rocks crunching under wheels and hooves. I stared out into the countryside, watching it pass.

This place was like any other. There were forests, mountains, and grasslands. It was nothing of note. If I didn’t know this was the supposed demon realm, it would look like anywhere else I had been in this world. I realized that I had no clue how large this world even was. There was the human realm, and the demon realm and they both existed on continents, and beyond those continents was an ocean. However, it had only taken me months to travel across the two continents, I hadn’t even moved that particular fast.

If I recalled from my history classes, it had taken Lewis and Clark years to cross the United States. That meant that these two realms were quite small. I also knew what the smartest geographers of this world did not, that the world was round. They all believed the world was flat, that there was an edge to this world and then when you came to it, you’d fall into some abyss.

The hero’s journal accounted for his frustration with trying to get the modern academia of his time to accept this. He admitted that he couldn’t prove that the world was round and that he wasn’t even sure it was. The existence of mana and magic already countered everything he believed about science. If his theories held, there was no saying this world even followed the laws of gravity. It certainly didn’t when a two-ton dragon was capable of flying.

Naturally, he was too busy at the time to prove any of it and convince the academics, since their books remain unchanged even in his passing.

Where are there other continents out there, and other realms to explore? It certainly seemed like a possibility, but seeing as no one had left the two realms and managed to return alive after seeing another land, the end of the world theory has only continued to build steam. There might have been nothing else out there but the ocean. Leaving would be a death sentence, and I didn’t have that adventurous spirit, so it wasn’t going to be me breaking history.

I would be happy living the rest of my life in the castle, popping out a few brats for the king, and then living the rest of my life getting fucked by a new boy toy every week. My ambitions had become overturned so many times since coming to this world that hoping for even that much seemed like a long shot.

“There it is!” I heard a shout and saw a soldier pointing.

I poked my head out of the carriage, and that’s when I finally saw it. Compared to the diplomatic city we had visited before, this one was enough to take my breath away. It wasn’t that the city was necessarily large, but the castle at the center was massive. It didn’t tower into the sky but was instead built into the side of a mountain. As we exited the plains, I could see we were steadily entering the foot of a massive mountain range, and the demon king’s castle was built directly within that mountain range.

In truth, we were probably still a day away, but that spoke to the massive size of it all. Giant pillars and columns spiraled up into stone archways. Towers were stretching up into the sky, many of them carved seemingly directly out of the mountain. It looked less like a castle was built on a mountain, and more like a mountain was carved away and what was left happened to be the castle.

The castle had a gothic appeal to it, as expected of a demon realm. I was surprised at how artistic it all was though. It wasn’t ugly but had a certain romantic element to it. A lot of the stone was white marble or something that gave a similar effect. There were images of demons and monsters, but rather than look terrifying and evil like in the human realm, they appeared triumphant and proud, standing tall, their faces filled with ageless wisdom.

As moved closer, I could see a city wall. The wall was surrounded by a massive moat filled with water from an underground spring. The water in the moat was crystal clear, and in my mind, it almost looked like glass. I could see fish swimming around in there too, making for some excellent scenery.

“There is no place like home!” one of the soldiers exclaimed.

He was right though, compared to other cities this place was quite impressive. There were multiple towers on top of the castle walls, which seemed to be used for observation. And the castle itself was also very well maintained. While not as decadent as the castle I had seen in the human realm, it appeared more functional, while being too artistic to be called a normal military base.

In comparison, the rather small city that had formed around it felt rather lackluster. The buildings were developed, with paved roads and clay-roofed houses, but there was nothing particularly grand. The forests were a bit distant, so everything was made of stone. There was also a crispness to the air that both made it feel refreshing, and made me want to cover up.

I could understand why the other powers chose another city to put the council and parliament. The small city didn’t offer much in the way of sights, and no matter how much they attempted to build and beautify the area, it would never compare to the grandeur of the castle above. Anyone who lived there would be constantly under the fist of whoever lived in that building. People like Tigon wouldn’t be able to make a peep under that constant reminder of power.

“That castle…” I spoke unconsciously, feeling a strange sensation inside.

“It was the demon god’s castle. He lived there for as long as time records. This was the last seat and all that remains of the power that once ruled the two realms.”

I was going to say that I couldn’t imagine this being built in this modern age. It was a wonder of the world, like the pyramids or the Babylon wall. Given its size and elegance, it made sense that it had been built by dragons. It looked like a place where gods receded.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“We’ll be living here?” I asked.

“In a part of it… a small part.” He shrugged. “The majority of it is very difficult to access, and many of the areas on inhospitable to human life. The air is… thin, up in some of the higher towers, and the wind is powerful enough to tear the skin of a human.”

I gulped. The closer we got, the higher I realized the castle went. It was as tall as a mountain. The upper floors did take you to the limits of the atmosphere. I wondered if we climbed up there and if we might be able to see any land masses beyond.

“What now?” I asked.

“Now, your level.” He responded. “It is time to prepare for our marriage.”

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