~ Chapter 154: An audience with her Majesty ~

[Nanya’s point of view]

Just as I had thought, the official who handled my mother’s audiences was standing not that far away from the throne room itself. He had a desk and everything, and there was already a demio talking with him.

In front of the door stood two guards who were far more powerful than any of those seen walking about on the streets, but they were still considerably weaker than me.

The doors were huge, reaching at least ten meters high, but they were just an overzealous decoration. They were opened only during special ceremonies or when foreign royalties arrived. Everyone else just had to use either the normal door on the left or the one on the right of the big ones.

It would be easy to understand that for most demons, objects the size of these doors, which have not been enchanted, was not that impressive as they could easily crush them with their brute strength, however, the ritual and meaning behind them was something else. As such, one thing was to be allowed to pass through the big main doors and another was to go through the side ones.

Even so, all the doors that led to the throne room were heavily enchanted to resist a lot of damage. It would take a team of average strength Supremes to destroy even one of them. The main big ones also had a small gimmick enchant cast on them as they could be easily opened with a single order from mother.

I wasn’t in a hurry, so I waited patiently for this demio to finish his job. The receptionist didn’t show any sign of being annoyed, but looking at his body with a puffy white hair and ram horns, he gave me the impression that he wasn’t very strong.

The demio, on the other hand, had a sleek appearance, with platinum hair washing back over his scalp, thick sharp horns curving just a bit, giving him an elegant and graceful appearance. The suit he wore was one that evoked such feelings as well. Overall, he appeared to be quite human, and it was surprising how powerful his presence felt from this distance alone. With just a single glance, I could tell that he was at the level of a Supreme or higher. I wouldn’t have been surprised even if he said that he was one of the most powerful individuals on this continent.

“Esteemed High Demio Dragmator Avarice, I apologize, but her Majesty has declared that she wouldn’t be taking any more audiences for a while, she is extremely busy with some very peculiar matters.” the man replied.

“Peculiar matters? What could be far more important than allowing an audience with my esteemed self?” he demanded to know.

“If maybe your ‘esteemed self’ managed to gain the authority of a Duke of Chaos, then she would be more willing to see you?” the official replied.

“Foolishness! Since when was it mandatory for one to become a Duke of Chaos in order to gain an audience with the Demon Queen?” he scoffed.

“Since the moment this palace was constructed.” he replied and just then, he locked eyes with me “Excuse me, but how may I help you?” he asked me with a smile.

The demio puffed and took a step aside while I took a step forward.

“Greetings, my name is Nanya Demonarkiar the 2nd Deus. I would like to schedule an audience with my mother, Queen Akardia Demonarkiar.” I told him.

“Nanya? Deus?” he raised an eyebrow when he heard my name.

The demio was also surprised to have heard it, but I didn’t let their reactions bother me.

“Yes. When will it be possible?” I asked.

“One moment, Princess. The esteemed members of the Royal Family have certain privileges, I shall go and bring this information to her Majesty right away!” he declared and then rushed through the door on the far left.

I looked at him go and noticed that he also had goat feet. It was a very funny combination as the noise from his hooves reminded me of a horse.

Looking back at the High Demio, he simply stared at me with cold eyes, probably wondering why I had returned? I did not recognize his name so either he was a rather young one or someone who up until now never made a name for themselves. Considering how powerful his presence was, there was a high chance it was the latter.

As for me, I did not feel like comparing myself with him in terms of presence strength. It would have been a waste of energy, and this sort of behavior never led to anything constructive unless I was using it in a dungeon. The monsters there would immediately get intimidated by my presence and try to stay clear of my sight, while the more annoying teammates would keep their mouths shut for a while.

In a way, this High Demio was trying to do the same, the difference between the past me and the current me, however, was the fact that such a feeble attack wasn’t even enough to make me flinch let alone force me to back away.

It didn’t take long before the goat demon returned with news from her Majesty.

He walked up to his desk and after looking at both of us he said: “Her Majesty Queen Akardia Demonarkiar wishes to invite Princess Nanya Demonarkiar the 2nd Deus for an audience with her. You may step through the door on the far right and from there on, you will be guided by a Knight to the proper place of greeting. As for the esteemed High Demio Dragmator Avarice, you are requested to return at a later date, when you will be scheduled for a proper audience. The estimated wait time right now is of 6 months.”

My mother sounded as though she was not in the mood of seeing his face. This demon was probably here to pester her with either a request for marriage for one of her daughters or in order to issue an official challenge against her.

“What?! That’s absurd!” the demio called out.

I simply thanked the receptionist and then headed for the door on the far right. I wasn’t interested in the listening to the desires and thoughts of this high demio. I was excited by the prospect of finishing my job here on the Demon Continent faster than I should have.

With all due honest, I was expecting mother to treat me with indifference and coldness, maybe even try to reject seeing me completely or even going so far as having declared me dead. Maybe I was too scared of finding out that maybe she didn’t want to accept my current self?

While thinking of such things, I stepped into the throne room. It looked like the ball room of a human Palace. Big columns on the left and right side acted as support beams, with large tapestries hanging from them, showing off the emblem of the Demonarkiar house, two red clawed hands holding together a star as an offering to the gods. The design was what humans would have called evil-looking, the mark of a devil’s house, however, clawed hands were the most common ones among our kind. As for the star, it actually was a representation not of our Sun but rather an ancient star that didn’t appear on the sky, a star called Astrega, a star hidden somewhere in the dark corners of the sky.

Also, the hands weren’t offering the Astrega to the gods, but rather they were sharing its light with demonkind. It was such an interesting and weird concept that I often thought it came from some sort of fairy tale.

After all, why speak of a star we could not see on our night sky? Why was it even so relevant to the demons anyway? These were questions I feared no one knew the answer to.

Within this huge room, on the far side of it, there was a gigantic throne fit for a giant rather than a normal-sized demon. The appearance was indeed demonic, with sharp spikes forming out of it on both the left and right side of it. The metal it was made from was black in color and it gave you the feeling as though it wasn’t the demoness that was sitting on it glaring at you but rather the throne itself.

On the left and right side of the room were two guards placed in standing position near every column. They were equipped with some of the best armors made by demon hands and their weapons of choice were a short sword and a long spear. Guards in general, almost everywhere I went, seemed to fancy this weapon combination. They all looked well trained and powerful, just like the guards outside. They had a stern look on their face and from what I remembered as a child, they were the most difficult to prank or pull a reaction out of.

They were also the ones sent after me every time I tried to sneak out of the Palace or was trying to hide from my father’s personal lessons. Just thinking about those moments sent shivers down my spine. I was fighting for my life as a little girl while he was relaxing in a chair, drinking tea and reading a book.

As I approached the throne, I cast my gaze over the person standing on top of it.

Mother didn’t change one bit from the last time I saw her. She had the same serious expression on her beautiful face that would have made even an elf or an el’doraw Queen envious. Her long black hair flowed down her back, right between her huge dragon wings. She was tall, almost 2.4 meters tall, a giant among humans, but maybe of normal height among draconians.

The Demon Queen was leaning back in her throne, her clawed hands were resting on the armrests. She had retractable spikes on her forearms, the tip was aimed towards the back, acting as a guard for her elbow as well, making her strikes deadlier. She kept her legs crossed, and from the waist to the knee, they were identical to a human’s legs, but everything else was truly demonic in aspect. She had clawed feet, that were sharp as a kitchen knife. The tibia and knee were protected by a chitinous armor plate that had spiky protrusions on it.

A single kick from that would have been akin to taking a morning star to the face.

Mother’s tail was fairly long and had a fluffy end. Because of that, whenever she waved her tail around, I suddenly got the urge to chase it down just like Tamara sometimes did when Illsy used his AGLMC to project a red dot around the room. That never triggered me... much, but mother’s fluffy tail was something else. However, from the place where it was connected to her back all the way to that fluffy tip, it was remarkably similar to my own tail, reverse V shaped scales covered it.

In terms of garments, mother mostly enjoyed walking around in armor or her own Godlike creations. She rarely wore dresses simply because they would be shredded by her movements and spikes. Mother had a beautiful body that would probably have Illsy drooling if I didn’t smack him in the face first. She was the type to easily enchant a man’s gaze with a single sway of her hips. A lot of demons fell to this trap of her, which she often employed during her battles as well.

It was from her that I learned to use more skinny armor in order to drop down the guard of my male foes. Unlike humans, demonesses were designed by nature to enchant the male of any species.

As I stood there, in front of her, mother gazed at me with her cold gaze. I felt unwanted or to be more precise, I was a disruptive element here, this was what she was telling me.

“Mother, it’s nice to see you.” I said with a smile on my face.

However, she wished to greet me, however she wished to look at me, I did not care. I came here just to tell her that she was a grandmother now, that was it. If she did not want me back or if she wished for me to never return, I would accept her choice because in essence, my home was now with Illsy.

Then again, I also wished that all of these strange thoughts of mine were just my own fearful projection of my past self and nothing more. What I genuinely wanted... was for mother to accept me and my children.

I did not care if she accepted Illsy, he was mine.

There was no reply from her for more than a minute. She kept looking at me with those cold eyes of hers, but then, when I thought about breaking the ice again, she parted her lips and spoke to me.

“Nanya, my daughter, you have grown.”

“Yes, mother. I am far more powerful than I once was.” I nodded and then showed her a smile.

“Is that so? Then are you here to challenge me?” she asked narrowing her eyes while releasing her powerful pressure that slammed on my shoulders like a pair of giant sledgehammers.

The pressure was nothing to laugh at if you were a normal demoness, it would have sent you down on your knees immediately. Against me, however, it didn’t really have that much of an effect. Zoreya’s glare was far more frightening when I tried to scribble something on her Divine Shield. I also got a six-hour long lecture about the importance of Divine Artifacts, from which I was not allowed to flee from. I tried to, I really did, but she used that blasted shield of hers to stop me. None of my other sister-wives dared to save me either, they just offered me a silence prayer and left.

This being said, mother immediately took notice of my strength.

“No.” I replied and shook my head “I have my own little corner in the world which I need to watch over. Besides, I always believed this throne suited you the best, you were always beautiful when you sat in it like the true Queen that you are, mother.”

When she heard this, she called back her presence and relaxed for a bit. The pressure hammering down on my shoulders was gone with it as well.

“You shouldn’t have come back here.” she told me.

“Do you believe there’s no place for me here?” I asked her.

Looking right into my eyes, she replied with a cold and maybe a bit harsh tone of voice “Unlike your siblings, you never really fit in the landscape of the Demon Continent. You were weak and feeble, scared and far too playful. You were more like a pet than a vicious demoness ready to fight for her own place here.”

Why does it hurt, mother, when you say it like that? I wondered for a moment as I did not dare look away from her gaze.

“Maybe, but I survived in the end.” I told her.

“Only because your father was foolish enough to try and train you. None of your other siblings even had a need of something like that. Just how weak could you have been?” she asked in a harsh tone almost as if she spat out those words.

“It appears as though everyone thinks of me like that... a weak and foolish demoness.” I said and for a moment looked down.

I could not deny the fact that hearing those words coming from my mother’s mouth was painful, but they weren’t enough to make me cry.

“That was the truth, the fact from a century ago.” she declared.

Was? I thought and looked up at mother.

For a moment, I thought I saw her lips turn into a smile, but just then the huge doors at the entrance burst open and the guards who watched over them slid on the floor all the way to my feet.

On the side, through the veil of fast dissipating smoke, I saw the High Demio from before. He stepped in, with an overflowing arrogance that made me want to punch him in the face. Not only did he break etiquette, but by doing this insulting act, he also showed that he looked down upon my mother.

Is he that eager to get himself beaten to a pulp? I wondered.

If this happened back in Illsyorea, Illsy would not have even hesitated to create a wall in his face and then push him to the other side of the room declaring that he had no time for braindead fools. I was itching to do the same, to be honest, but... as Ayuseya once told me, this wasn’t Illsyorea.

The one who held ultimate authority here was the demoness sitting on the throne and glaring daggers at the High Demio like he was the most worthless of insects.

“Your Majesty, my name is Dragmator Avarice! I came here today all the way from the far corners of this feeble empire to declare that I wish to...” he was stopped by my mother’s extremely loud roar.

“SILENCE! How dare you step into my throne room like this! To be so rude as to disturb your Queen during her important audience with someone else, this is an unspeakable insult! I could have your entire family skinned alive and tossed to the Dayuks for this!”

“Important audience, your Majesty? Hah! What is there to speak with this daughter of yours you cast away and who is known to be the weakest among all demons! Even a slime could defeat her! No, it would be an insult to the slime to have one fight against her! A practice dummy should be enough!” he laughed out.

“You dare!” mother smacked her fist in the throne, sending a shock wave throughout the entire room and casing a few cracks in the floor as well.

Hm, was her strike just now maybe a little weak or have they reinforced the floor a lot more this time? I remember that when I was young and something similar happened, she almost caused the whole floor of the throne room to shatter to pieces. I thought.

“Yes, I dared, your Majesty! I am here to challenge you to a duel for the throne of Akardia and that of this whole damned Demonarkiar Empire!” he declared while pointing at her and releasing his powerful presence.

It almost matches mother’s? I thought.

After such a declaration, mother would usually laugh out and bluntly declare that she will accept and then smack the fool right in the face, sending him flying through the Palace walls.

“Mother?” I said as I looked back at her.

She was not replying. She was just standing there, glaring at him, but she wasn’t accepting his declaration, his challenge to a duel.

This... this never happened to mother before.

“What is it going to be, your Majesty?” the demon asked.

Mother clenched her fist and seemed to be struggling with an answer, it was almost as if she feared going to battle right now, and I could not understand why it was so.

Looking back at the demon, he didn’t look like he was that powerful to me, but was he actually at the same level as mother? Did I perhaps overestimate my parent’s power because of my young self’s innocence?

“Are you afraid, your Majesty?” the demon smirked.

He knows something that he shouldn’t have... the sudden revelation struck me and then I turned my gaze towards mother.

She parted her lips, and maybe because I feared she would decline the duel and ruin her reputation or maybe because I feared she could be defeated by this fool, I stepped forward between the two.

“High Demio Dragmator Avarice, it seems that your insults have went a bit too far.” I told him with a smile.

“What? How dare you speak, you worthless Impure?” he asked.

I didn’t react to his taunt, but I decided to use this to my advantage.

“Oh my~, it seems that this High Demio is set upon insulting me further. Well, this appears to be a challenge towards my dignity and reputation. I cannot just back away now, can I? High Demio Dragmator Avarice, as per your request to challenge me to a duel through insults and mockery before challenging my mother, I accept.” I replied and then made a small bow.

“What?” he blinked surprised, showing that he didn’t understand what I was talking about here.

“This Esteemed High Demio seems to be confused. Allow to me clarify. You insulted me, esteemed Demio, you did so before challenging my mother. In terms of a duel’s laws, I am allowed to accept this insult as a form of addressing a duel towards myself, which I have accepted. However, fighting here would destroy the castle, so I wish to relocate to a more convenient place, like the Proving Ground? There will be plenty of demons and demonesses to spectate your glorious defeat as well, esteemed High Demio... or are you afraid this weak Impure is going to be far too powerful for you?” I asked with a mocking tone of voice and at the end I lowered my chin to look at him like I would at a delicious prey.

Of course, this ended up riling him up, it was a taunt for which only those who still believed I was weak could fall for.

“Very well, you Impure! I will meet you there in three days! If you do not show up, then I demand that you never set foot in this Demonarkiar Empire ever again, least you wish to be known as a cowardly Impure who is not worth even the spit on the ground!” he declared.

“See you in three days then! Oh, the exit is right behind you.” I pointed at the door with a smile.

“Hmph!” he scoffed and turned around.

Letting out a sigh, I looked back at mother, who was now sitting in the throne and looking down at the floor.

“Mother, you’ll see in three days just how much I have grown.” I told her in a soft tone of voice.

“That... I would love to, but... can you really take him on?” she asked and probably for the first time in my entire life, I saw a glimpse of worry on her face.

It was shocking to say the least, but it also felt oh so emotional as well.

This feeling in my chest was probably one of happiness.

Mother cares about me! I squealed in my mind like a happy little girl and then with a bright smile, I declared “Mother, don’t worry! I may have once been your weakest daughter, but right now, I am quite certain there is no one on this continent who can defeat me in fair combat!”

Mother then showed me a soft smile.