~ Chapter 3: The Crown Sword of the Seas ~
[Alseus’ point of view]
Demon Kings did not go on cruises or take vacations. My past life’s whole repertoire of entertainment activities included reading in the library, reading reports, and the occasional long-distance espionage of the human settlements around the border of the demon territory. The last part could be counted as work too, but it was the fun part of work.
Combat was not fun for me. It was work. Military activities were also not fun for me; they were work. I did not really enjoy fighting or flaunting my power as much as the previous Demon King did, but when it came down to it… I was merciless.
From what my mother told me and what the maids around me described, this vacation on a cruise was just going to be one relaxing entertainment activity after another. There was no fear of danger and the boat itself was known to be sturdy and sail only the safest waters.
I doubt my parents would have accepted going on this cruise if they were expecting pirate battles and nautical monster fights. Well, not with me tagging along at least. In their eyes, I was still the little innocent and maybe smarter than average little demon spawn… I mean child.
Still, one question was on my mind… were the horned dolphins tasty?
Maybe I will get to find out on this cruise!
Mother and father spent two days packing and preparing. The maids helped, of course, but the problem was mostly with their noble perspective. Each set of clothes they were packing ended up being changed for another just one hour later. I ended up going from wearing a bunch of clothes to wearing only suits that made me look like mini-father. Mother was overjoyed. I felt shackled by the collar.
They also took care of their official duties and made sure there was someone to handle the tasks that needed to be done while they were gone.
I still haven’t found out WHO sent us the invitation. The question or rather an appropriate moment to ask never came.
As soon as we left the mansion, we took a car to the nearby train station, where thousands were waiting for their trains. We took a bullet train that ran ten times faster than any horse I could remember. Maybe it reached the same speed as a dragon in the air? I couldn’t tell; I was too shocked by all of this to say anything.
First of all, I was aware of the existence of vehicles in this world. They were far different from the usual carriage in the other world. They were faster, looked better, and could be used for various things. Plus, there was no need to worry about the horse manure at every step on the road.
There were apparently special rental services for horse carriages, which were required for special social events. It was a tradition.
Still, I was surprised by their speed, by their comfort, by everything about them! I mean, riding on the ground as fast as you would in the sky on the back of a dragon? It was impressive!
On the train, I got to see several other local sapient species like the elves, dwarfs, relliars, and even alkadarians. The first had pointy ears, skinny bodies, taller by head than a regular human, and had a fruity-woody-foresty smell to them. The second were short in stature, around three thirds of a regular human, but their bodies were sturdy and thick, with an earthy scent to them. They had very dense bushy beards, the likes of which the humans could never grow. The third were humanoid in shape, with long tails, bodies covered in thick fur, and an animal-shaped head that resembled a feline of sorts. They reminded me of the beastfolk from the other world. Whenever I saw their ears twitching, I got this weird urge to just reach out my hand and pet them. Mother was the same in this regard. Father stopped her before she embarrassed herself.
My conclusion was that the relliars were enchanters of some sort that could hypnotize even the great me! But why was father immune?
As for the alkadarians, they were strange, to say the least. They looked humanoid from the waist up, but they had tentacles for legs and a pair of feathered wings. There was only one pair of them in the train car we were sitting in.
They looked eerily similar to monsters. It was amazing that the humans were not attacking them on sight. They usually hated anything that was different from them. The relliars were given a pass only because they resembled pets of some kind, while the others were very close to humans in all regards. However, the alkadarians were nothing like that.
The city where we lived, Zefirdom, was HUGE! It was bigger than the biggest city of mankind back in my world! This place had to have had at least one million citizens living here. That was more than a small country! It was amazing! Even so, from what I understood, it palled in comparison to the capital of the Ariandrea Kingdom.
That being said, I could NOT even begin to imagine how big and powerful their armies were if Zefirdom was just an average city. I was used to armies of hundreds of thousands, but those guys were mere soldiers who barely wore any armor or used any magic. They were all just meat shields, unlike the soldiers of this world, who from what I learned on the TV and what father told me, were well trained and armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and tech the Kingdom could afford.
Just imagining thousands upon thousands of soldiers armed with machine guns with enchanted bullets marching at the same pace and ready to give their lives at the order of their commanders sent chills down my spine. There was absolutely no WAY I could win against a monstrous army like that. There was just no way, it was impossible!
I mean, sure, I could launch some powerful spells at them, but what if they could defend themselves against them? What if they didn’t even need to fight against me with ground soldiers and just had to launch missiles or something at me. I mean, I did see a couple of news reports on TV during the national day, when they paraded the armament of this country. Seriously, what was it with these war-obsessed freaks that made them create such abominable technologies that could shred thousands of enemies in one go?!
Such were my questions that would probably get no answers for years to come.
When we reached Port Neptune and disembarked the train, I was in for a bigger surprise. This city was bigger and busier than Zefirdom. Everywhere I looked, there were people and more people. There was intense activity from the moment we left the train station until we reached the piers.
Here, I was in for a bigger surprise. While the ship we were supposed to board was big, there were a few cargo vessels even bigger than it. All of them were civilian. All of them were made of metal. I saw no sails and no oars on any of them. How did they move?!
“Look, Alseus! That’s our boat! Isn’t it wonderful?” mother pointed out with a bright smile as she held my hand.
Looking in that direction, I spotted a huge metal ship. It was sleek and shiny, painted white, red, and gold, the colors of royalty. It had a very prominent and sharp front shaped like a giant blade, almost as if it was meant to cut through sea monsters and giant waves.
The name of this ship is Crown Sword of the Sea?! How do you crown a sword?! Why does the sea need a sword?! I reacted in my mind when I saw the big name painted with golden letters on the side.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Alseus?” mother asked me before lifting me up in her embrace and nuzzling me.
I tried to push back, to get myself free of this motherly affection. Father ignored me, and just focused on the luggage, making sure all of it was there. There was no escaping my mother’s clutches.
Looking around, I noticed that we were in one of the big lines for passengers. Wait a minute, just how many hundreds of people were there supposed to sail with us?! This was already a floating city not just a simple boat to take you from point A to point B!
I looked at the crowd and the big ship with curious eyes, I did not want to express my opinion out loud, but what I wanted to ask was how did my mother managed to get her hands on these ultra-rare tickets? If my eyes weren’t mistaken, then on the far end of this boat, they were preparing what appeared to be a stage for a ceremony. There were a bunch of men in black walking around too, with some wire sticking out of their ears, and there were a lot of nobles here too.
Is this some really super important event? I wondered.
One and a half hours later, after we finally reached our room, mother and father took a small break by lying down on the bed and couch respectively. Our designated place was smaller than our house, with only two bedrooms, a dressing room, and a bathroom.
Since I was free to move around now, I decided to explore this place and see if there were hidden spells or deadly shadows of death from the underworld. If there was a problem, I could always summon mine or subjugate those. This was what children my age did, they explored stuff, or so my psychologist told me.
“So... how is sailing on water supposed to be fun?” I asked them after I left the toilet, tossing behind me a piece of small white soap, landing it perfectly on its designated tray.
The rooms were nice and clean, no deadly shadows hidden anywhere. Our house was better in my opinion. The TV was bigger; however, the bed and couch were nailed to the floor, literally. They also had a minibar in the bedroom my parents were supposed to use. I couldn’t wait until I was of age to get my hands on some of those tasty spirits! Back in my world, they didn’t have this many fancy labels!
“Oh, Alseus, don’t be silly! It’s not the sailing that’s fun but what you can do on the boat, the people you can meet, and the fun you can have while discovering new things here! If I’m not mistaken, I think one of our neighbors is here too, the Kazar family.” she said with a big smile.
Well, all of that sounded boring to me, but since I was going to be stuck here for two weeks anyway, best I could do was look around and see whom I could befriend or find dirty secrets about. There were a couple of shadow minions I could use just for that specific purpose.
“First things first! We need to prepare for the departure party!” mother declared with a smile.
My father and I both let out a groan.
“You two…” mother narrowed her eyes at us; we looked away.
Two hours later, the Crown Sword of the Sea set sail. Everyone cheered and a big party started on the main deck. Of course, my family joined too; they were trying to blend in; however it was impossible not to notice the sneaky stares. The third son of the Ardemant family and the second daughter of the Duke of Margravery, the two rebel black sheep of their respective families, and their son, the one that was unacknowledged by either. The only saving grace was father’s work.
I took note of those who tossed evil glares and the few who aimed their killing intent at us. I was fine with it, but it felt wrong to have my parents be the aim of such stares.
For now, I pretended to be only a child, no more than four years old. If I got especially bored, I could always dive into the ocean and seek out some materials needed to summon the fiends of the underworld.
“Isn’t he a sweetheart! And he’s only what? Three years old? Does he still suckle from his mother’s breasts?” a woman that I could have sworn was a relative of a giant ogre came over and immediately started pinching my cheeks.
I do not want to mention how close I was to actually turning her inside out for daring to do such a deed to a great Demon King like myself!
“I’m not a baby.” I grumbled.
“Ah, but you sure are! My little boy kept suckling until he was twelve years old!” the woman said with a proud laughter.
Her words just made my mind’s gears grind to a halt. I just stared at her as I would at the biggest idiot in the entire world.
“Something like that is...” mother said, showing her a wry smile, then turned her gaze to me.
“Disgusting and immoral.” I said the words she was too afraid to speak out loud.
“What?! How dare you say that my son is disgusting and immoral! Why just yesterday he declared that he would stop bathing with me! How saddening! He’s just thirty-eight years old! He’s a little baby!” she said, and I was beginning to pity that poor... middle-aged pathetic man that had such a weird woman as a mother.
I think my psychologist, Zisteria Francesca, would find this case to be interesting from a professional point of view.
While wanting to put a stop to this conversation before I ended up giving her a kick in the face for having such a twisted mind, I looked up at father, who was pretending to look at the clouds and bluntly asked him:
“Father, are incestuous relationships a common thing among nobles?”
My voice was loud enough for several people around us to hear. As a result, mother paled, father spat out his drink, and the ogre-lady turned to stone.
To be honest, I didn’t care in the slightest bit if this was causing her problems, I didn’t want in any way or manner to have weird individuals like that lurking around me or my family. Who knew what sort of deviant thoughts and ideas roamed through her oversized noggin? She needed medical help; I needed to stay as far away from her as possible!
“Ahem, Madam Morgana, I believe that gentleman over there called you over for a chat?” father said and pointed at some random guy on the far-off side of the deck.
“Oh, really? Then, pardon me.” she said, making a small polite bow and left.
Once she was outside earshot, father walked up to me and told me “Son, I know some of them are weird in the head, but you should be careful who you anger. Some of them won’t hesitate to stab you with a dagger in the back. Twice!”
“Then can I stab them with a tree trunk in their bottom?” I retorted while narrowing my eyes at him.
For a moment, he just looked at me, not knowing what to reply, then he said “Just... don’t. Sigh... Why don’t you go over there to play?” he asked and pointed at one of the sides of the deck where there were other children hanging around.
“Fine, but I’m not promising NOT to accidentally throw any of the annoying ones off the boat.” I declared and then walked away.
As soon as I did so, I heard mother whispering to father “Do you think this behavior of his is a side effect of what happened back then?”
“Maybe.... I just hope it’s a passing phase. If this continues, it will only end up causing him trouble in the future. The other nobles in our kingdom aren’t as understanding as we are.” father replied.
Their worries were understandable. From the few television series I saw on TV, I knew that nobles, in general, were considered to be individuals with some sort of god-given right to rule over those below them while trying to kiss up to those above them. The royals had the right to act as they pleased within the kingdom or empire they ruled. Murder or unjust accusations would pass by unanswered when done by one of them, especially if it was the King, Queen, or Prince Heir to the throne.
Meanwhile, commoners, for the most part, had a difficult time defending themselves in court against their accusations. Still, modern times appeared to be vastly different from medieval times. Everyone had equal rights, although nobles had priority in everything. They couldn’t go around abusing their powers as they did in the past.
Even so, within the social ranks of nobility, there were certain rules and customs that were considered common knowledge by everyone. The respect one showed to a higher rank, the words one used when addressing someone of equal, inferior, or superior rank, even the clothes one wore at a public event, all of these things were dictated by the strict rules of nobility, which separated them in behavior and mindset from the commoners.
Truthfully speaking, all of this was highly annoying to me. I was looking at all of these humans prancing around making all sorts of noises and acting as though they were on top of the world with what many would have called an apathetic look on my face. I was lifeless... no, a zombie had more life in him than I did at that moment!
This was why, in order not to embarrass my parents more than I already had, I decided to slip away from the party. I went straight for the back of the ship, I think it was called the ass of the ship or the rectangle? Anyway, the silly naming of a sea vessel’s parts didn’t matter to one as mighty as the Demon King!
However, what was a ruler of the demonic forces without actual demonic forces to rule over or even a land to rule over? Considering the social status of my parents, even the possibility of me ending up as a commoner was high.
When I thought about this, I realized that I would probably look rather ridiculous if I appeared on a battlefield as my dignified self, but there was no one around me to follow my orders. True, some did call me a one-man army before, but in all due seriousness, wasn’t that a bit too boring and lonely even for a Demon King?!
With a sigh escaping my lips, I decided to do something about this unfortunate situation. There was no reason why I should not try to summon a minion or something.
Still, are the demons of this world the same as those in my previous one? I mean, would they even answer my calls? I don’t think they would recognize me as a demon or anything. The humans had a name for those who could do this, but what was it? Meh, it doesn’t matter. I shrugged and focused on the big blue yonder.
“It’s rather peaceful out here, isn’t it?” someone suddenly told me.
I flinched and looked to my left.
There, in the shadows, was a dark-skinned beauty with charming long silver hair, deep red eyes, and luscious body shapes. She was one of those things that were with the Hero at one time but wore these strange collars around their necks.
“You are a slave, right?” I blurted out.
The woman spat out the drink and started coughing violently.
“HOW RUDE!” she retorted and glared at me.
I tilted my head to the left and furrowed my brow.
Am I wrong? I wondered.
Well, it was true, she didn’t have a collar around her neck.
“Then, are you a Pochi?” I corrected myself.
A true and mighty Demon King like myself couldn’t be wrong two times!
“I’ve been downgraded to a dog?! How shameful can you be, little boy!” she shouted and pointed at me while her ears turned red and cheeks a bright pink.
I couldn’t tell if she was furious or embarrassed.
“Wrong again?” I wondered as I tilted my head to the left.
“I’m an el’doraw!” she retorted.
“Ah! Yes, now I remember, an Elf Cow!” I declared, confident with my answer.
“Boy! Are you mocking me?!” the woman said in a very annoyed tone of voice as she grabbed me by the face.
It didn’t hurt.
“No?” I replied.
“Do you find it funny to insult adult women and degrade them in this manner? Just because you are a noble this doesn’t give you the right to look down on me like that! I’m an el’doraw not an Elf Cow, not a dog, and definitely not a slave! Insult me any further, damn brat, and I’ll let everyone know what sort of disrespectful son your parents have!” she growled at me, and was it my impression or did I feel a sudden murderous aura around her?
“I’m sorry, I have never seen someone like you except as a slave, dog, or an Elf Cow.” I showed her an innocent smile but she just tightened her grasp on my head.
It didn’t hurt.
“Sigh... Why am I arguing with a kid who won’t be considered as a speck of a man only after another ten years at least? I apologize, little baby, this adult woman should not have lowered herself to this… level.” she said and released her grasp over my face, then she patted me on the head “Grow up and when you are at least 18, I might date you if you ask nicely.” she winked at me, then she looked down and added with a smirk “If you will grow up down there past your current size.”
Why did her words hurt?
I just looked at her as she left and for some reason, I felt irritated.
“Who was she anyway?” I asked myself and shook my head. There’s no time to think about useless things, once I’m an adult I’ll just tie her up in my room for a month and turn her into my pleasure slave! That’s another 14 years from now according to this world’s laws… I declared something ridiculous, knowing full well that by that time, I would most certainly completely forget about this insane el’doraw.
Did humans get so easily annoyed when others insulted them or tried to mock them for something that was biologically improbable at their current age? I couldn’t understand, maybe it was this body’s instinct to get mad at others? Besides, she was in the wrong for acting like that towards a child.
“Sigh…” I shook my head and turned my attention towards the vast blue yonder… It was peaceful, calming… and perfect for summoning a fiend of the underworld!