Chapter 46: A complicated situation

"And you say that they thought I was threatening them?"

"Yeah! Everyone in the city is panicking, the city guards don't know what to do and the nobles seem to be going to surrender at any moment now"

"You really managed to take over the city without even needing to kill anyone! You're amazing!"

"You're incredible!"

"You're astounding!"

The three fairies I met earlier just came flying into the castle to inform me of the 'success' of 'my plan'... it seems like the people of the city got a glimpse of what was going on in here and ended up getting the wrong idea.

"Luna... did you just take over the city by accident?"

Nera has an expression halfway between amazement and disbelief.

"How was I supposed to know that people were hearing what I was saying? Actually, why didn't you warn me about that room?"

"I forgot about it..."

Uh... sometimes it feels as if people become dumber whenever them being smart would help fix the misunderstandings about me. Is this some kind of curse? Could it be the prophecy's doing?

"Whatever, let's go back there and make another announcement to clear things up"

"Ah, I don't think that will work"

The fairies come flying next to my head.

"Why not?"

"The very first thing that the city guards did was take down the announcement panels, they didn't want you to be able to make demands directly to the citizens"

Why does everyone keep trying to make this as difficult as it can possibly be!?

"I need to find a way to let the citizens know that there's no reason for them to be afraid..."

"ATTENTION CITIZENS! THERE'S A VERY GOOD REASON FOR YOU TO BE AFRAID!"

What was that? Is there someone yelling outside?

"THIS CITY IS NOW UNDER THE CONTROL OF MY MISTRESS, THE QUEEN OF DARKNESS!"

A stupid looking dragon is flying outside screaming nonsense at the top of his lungs, he's so loud that I bet everyone in the city can hear him.

"IT'S USELESS TO RESIST! ANYONE WHO FIGHTS BACK WILL KNOW THE TRUE MEANING OF TERROR!"

"What is that idiot doing!? He's making it even worse!!!"

I need to find a way to remove the barrier at least, after that... I suppose I'll have to run away like I always do. Why does it have to end like this every time...

"At least there's no way that things can get any worse than they already are"

"Luna! Things just got much worse than they already were!"

One of these days I'll finally learn to keep my mouth shut...

"What's wrong, Nera?"

"Look! Just outside of the barrier!"

What in the world? There's a massive fleet of ships surrounding the city! And next to them, a few dozen massive creatures are reaching out to the barrier.

"Nera! What is that!?"

"That's our navy's fleet, it looks like they brought most of the battleships here, they must be taking this situation very seriously"

The navy? How did they get here so quickly!?

"And what are those giant things? They look kinda like squids... don't tell me, are they krakens?"

"Yes, they are! The aquatic demons work really hard to domesticate them, krakens are not monsters you know, they are normal animals, so they need to be domesticated in the same way that horses are"

No, you just cannot compare horses with something like that.

"But the effort is worth it, no other country can match the Agua kingdom in naval combat," She says, with a smug smile on her face.

"Nera... this is not the time to feel proud about your country, it's going to be a disaster if they actually attack"

"Ah, sorry, but it should take them some time to make a hole in the barrier, we still have some time to do something"

It's clear that I'm going to need some help, and there's only one person who could be able to help me right now.

"Hey, I need to ask you for another favor"

When I address them, the three fairies quickly form a line in front of my face.

"Ask as much as you want! We already decided that you are the demon lord we are going to follow from now on"

"Yeah! A villain who can take over a large city like this so easily is someone worth following"

Are they being serious right now?

"If you think that I'm a villain, why are you so eager to follow me?"

"Well, it's not as if we've ever given the choice to do anything other than work for some villain"

"Yeah! And you at least are nicer to us than our previous master..."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that... anyway, I need you to find that pink-haired girl that was with me earlier, tell your friends to search the area around..."

"Oh, but I'm already here"

"Ah!"

Of course she was right behind me... is she ever going to stop doing that!?

"Ara! I need you to help me! Everyone in the city is panicking! They think that I'm trying to conquer their country! And there are giant squids all around! Giant squids!"

"You know, I really thought that the worst that could happen was for you to get into a fight with some guards or that someone thought that you were planning to kill the queen, but as always, you managed to surpass all my expectations"

"Don't say that as if it was a good thing..."

"No, I'm serious, it's really impressive that you were able to take control of the mana circuit and infiltrate the castle so easily, that speech was also quite impressive, for someone who does not want to be a villain, you're really good at it"

"Why thank you! I just do what I... wait! No! I'm not good at that at all! This was all just a coincidence!"

"Ah... your life would be so much easier if you just learned to roll with it"

"I don't want to want to learn to roll with it!!!"

I can see her holding back her laughter, she's making fun of me...

"I need to make another announcement for the city to explain everything!"

"Oh, let me guess, you couldn't do it because the guards took down those panels earlier"

"Exactly"

"And then, you must have seen the dragon yelling so loud that everyone in the city could hear him"

"It would have been difficult to miss him"

"But you didn't think that, since he follows your orders, you could use him to make another announcement, did you"

"..."

"..."

"Could you not have said that in a way that didn't imply that I'm dumb?"

"I wasn't implying that! By the way, did you find the contract crystal?"

"No, the queen did not have it"

"Really? I was sure that she had it... did you search her well"

"Some people might argue that I searched her too well..."

"More importantly, did you see Ranna anywhere?"

"No, she was not with the knights when I saw them"

"Well, we need to find her, that's more important than anything else"

I would say that the most important thing is the fleet surrounding us... I bet that she suspects that Ranna has her hat, she only cares about her own stuff...

"Luna! I know what announcement you should make!"

"You do?"

"You should demand that the citizens find Ranna and capture her!"

"What!?"

"Go and tell Irvan to tell everyone!"

"I'm not going to make any demands! That would only confirm that I'm using the city as a hostage!"

"Well, in that case, we should try to..."

Arana stops talking abruptly and her face becomes expressionless, she seems to be staring into nothing in particular.

"Ara? Is something wrong?"

I wave my hand in front of her face a few times but there's no response.

"What's wrong? You're scaring me"

And then she suddenly starts talking with a strange monotone voice.

An evil ruler torments the wasteland.

Corrupted by the belief that might makes right.

But the ruler's cruelty shall be punished.

When it brings down the wrath of the queen of darkness.

The extent of the crimes will be revealed to her.

And she will be forced to make a decision to kill.

The evil ruler will then know.

A terror unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Arana blinks a few times, I think she went back to normal.

"Ara, what were you talking about? I already told you that I'm not going to kill the queen"

"No, that wasn't me who said that"

"Uh... I was right in front of you, I could clearly see that it was you"

"It wasn't me, that was a prophecy... although only a minor one"

"Eh?"

"And if I made a prophecy, that means..."

Arana takes off her sister's hat and stares at it for a moment.

"I knew it! This is Ranna's hat!"

She violently throws the hat to the ground and falls to her knees.

What does she mean 'a prophecy'!? I need an explanation!

forli

So I was thinking of a way to retcon that... maybe I should edit that chapter and pretend that she was always taller? Or should I reveal that Luna was wrong about her own height? Or maybe I should give her a title or something that makes her taller...

Or should I just stick with what I already wrote? I don't know...