Chapter 88: List of troubles

"So... What do you need me to tell you?"

After finding Xania, we all sat around a table and I got a pen and paper to take notes.

"I need you to tell me what you know about the demon wasteland. I don't have enough information to decide if I should become the ruler of this place."

"Oh, what exactly do you want to know?"

"Well, I... Nera, what exactly do I want to know?"

"You could start with how many people live here, what are the different tribes, or what their culture is like."

"There's no way to know for sure, but it's believed that there are somewhere around 800.000 demons in the wasteland. As for the tribes, there are hundreds of small ones. But there are 12 tribes that are considered to be the most important so you only really need to- Wait... Luna, what are you doing?"

Xania suddenly stops talking and I notice that both she and Nera are staring at my hand in awe.

"Uh? I'm writing down what you're telling me."

"But... You're writing as fast as I'm talking... How can you move your hand like that?"

"I don't know, I'm just writing."

Why are they looking at me like that? I understand them being amazed when I use some powerful spell or something, but this is just writing...

"A-anyway. As I was saying, the 12 biggest tribes in the demon wasteland are the gray demons, the blue demons, the orcs, the orks, the fairies, the minotaurs, the Arachne, the blood demons, the rock demons, the naga, the high slimes, and the apple folk."

"The what folk?"

"However, even if the tribes are named after races of demons, that doesn't mean that all members of a race are in the same tribe or that all tribes are made exclusively of one race. For example, there are many smaller tribes of gray demons on other parts of the wasteland. There are also some races with very few members, some of them only have one or two members and don't even have a name."

"Right, like that race that Kalroth and Vilde are from."

"Now, I'm afraid that other than the gray demons I don't know much about what each tribe is like. Other than the way they fight, of course."

"Do you fight them often?"

"This is the demon wasteland, everyone is fighting each other all the time in this place."

"Can't you try to be a bit less violent?"

"Anyone who tries to avoid fighting will be seen as weak and everyone will try to steal their stuff. Then there are all of the old grudges that the tribes have against each other."

"Grudges? What grudges?"

"The most recent one is from a year ago. Some undead birds we use for delivering mail were starting to decompose and the smells were getting pretty bad. So I tried to send about a hundred or so of them flying to some distant location to get rid of them, but I made a miscalculation and their bodies fell apart when they were right above the town of the minotaurs... They got really mad after that, it seems like they only got rid of the smell just recently."

"I think that even I would hold a grudge over something like that... You should try to learn how to use magic properly one of these days."

"I know how to use magic properly! By most people's standards, I'm really good! Dark magic is notoriously difficult to control, not everyone can be like you. You're just... Uergh." Mmm, how do I spell 'Uergh'? "You don't need to write that!!!"

"So... does stuff like that happen often around here?"

"Yes, and naturally, it tends to result in even more fights. Normally it's just a small brawl and nobody gets killed, but sometimes it escalates into an actual battle."

"There must be a more peaceful way to solve your disputes. Then again, Nera did tell me that you do not have any laws."

Xania turns her head to look at Nera. "You said that? We do have laws! We are not THAT barbaric..."

"I didn't say that! I just said that you don't have a common law in the wasteland."

"Oh, that's true. Each tribe has its own laws, but they tend to be very similar to each other. At the very least everyone forbids murdering members of the same tribe. And killing outsiders is also forbidden if there's no good reason to do so, although each tribe has a different idea of what counts as a good reason... Other than that, around two-thirds of the laws that are made are usually various rules for fighting."

"Your culture really seems to be centered around fighting," I point out.

"You're realizing that NOW?"

"Still, you do have laws. Which means that strength is not the ONLY thing that you care about."

"About that... Maybe I should also mention the fact that our law enforcement leaves a lot to be desired..."

"What do you mean?"

"Us gray demons are a bit better than most of the other tribes. When there's a crime, we at least perform an investigation and try to find the real culprit. And sometimes we even manage to do it."

"Wait... are you saying that the other tribes don't even try to find the culprit? Then how do they enforce their laws?"

"If the crime was committed in public and the culprit was seen then the local demon lord will just beat them up. Otherwise, the demon lord will just beat up whoever they think seems the most suspicious, if they are one of the decent ones."

"That's the decent demon lords? What do the bad ones do?!"

"They just beat up whoever they like the least."

"Does that even count as law enforcement?!"

I know she said that it was bad, but this is just too much...

"Since the demon lords are the strongest, they just do whatever they want and call it justice. In the end, everything in the demon wasteland is decided by force... The only time that changes at least slightly is when someone exceptionally strong manages to unite the tribes, but those individuals always end up starting a war against someone else.

That's why I was hoping that you would become our queen. Nobody could dispute your power, and you probably would not start any wars."

"What do you mean 'probably'?"

Uh... I feel like this decision is only getting more and more difficult. The more I learn about the demon wasteland, the less qualified to fix its problems I feel. And yet, it's becoming more and more obvious that this place needs my help...

"This keeps getting more and more troublesome."

I notice someone else entering the room. "Well, then you are not going to like what I'm here to tell you."

It's Arana. These past few days I got the feeling that she was avoiding me as if she was too feeling too ashamed to talk to me. It was weird seeing her like that.

"Is something wrong?" I ask with a hint of concern.

"Not really. But I'm here bringing you even more trouble."

"Oh! I'm glad that you're back to normal Ara."

I might often complain about her, but the truth is that I cannot feel at ease if she doesn't act like her usual self.

"Hey! This time it's not my fault! I'm only here to inform you."

"Inform me of what?"

"There are two things, first is that I found some prisoners in the dungeon. They were apparently thrown in there by Kalroth's men, and I don't know which ones are guilty of any actual crimes. Since you're going to become the queen, you should decide what to do with them."

"I've not decided to become the queen yet..."

"Also, a lot of them are injured. I think that some might have been tortured. I healed them with my light magic, but that wasn't enough for them all to recover completely, so I thought that you might want to finish them off."

"Don't word it like that! And why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I only found out about it just now. I actually checked the dungeon the first day just in case, I didn't imagine that there would be another one on the other side of the castle... And the demons guarding the prisoners didn't think that we would be interested."

"Then I guess I'll have to go now. But what was that other trouble you needed to tell me about."

"A bunch of elves just arrived at the castle, they want to see you."

"Me? Why?"

"They say that you told them to leave their forest."

I have a bad feeling about this...

"Oh, I did convince some elves to leave, yes. But why would they come here?"

"To become your servants, apparently."

"MY SERVANTS?!!!"

"They say that you recruited them as your servants."

"I didn't recruit anyone!"

Just what are those guys thinking? And why is Arana smiling like that?! She really did go back to normal...

forli

I've had a lot of work these last two weeks and I couldn't write...